Dejection and rejection

The saying goes that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Au contraire, in these days of unpaid internships. However I’m offering something for free (me) and no-one seems keen to take me up on it. I have emailed numerous (30+) TV production companies to offer my services and only heard back from three. That’s less than a 10% hit-rate. And, in fairness, two of those emailed back to let me know that my services wouldn’t be required. Feelgood Fiction (see blog from 13th Jan ’10) were kind enough to invite me in and give me some advice. Carnival Films have kept me on file (see blog entry from 20th Feb ’10) and offer plenty of encouragement and kind words, but still no cigar.

Working with The Artists’ Studio is great, but the work only trickles in. The disheartening truth is that there’s too many people and almost zero jobs. I’m feeling a bit down at mouth today, after working hard for five months now and really not seeing any results. I have completed my first script and submitted it to both the BBC Writersroom and the Red Planet script prize but what are the chances of those coming into fruition? The only way my writing will get better is through experience and from immersing myself in the TV world. The ideal career path for me would be to get work as an editor and then, years down the line, settle down and try writing. Ah, well – now that I have the time available I should try and hone writing skills anyway. So my writing projects are:

-Senses now completed and submitted, try and adapt to a stage play and submit to new writing theatres.
-Begin new TV script.
-Continue with radio play script You Can Never Go Home.
-Write Asham Award entry, due 30th September (still having trouble with the Gothic theme!!)

And the final project on my list is to stop feeling dejected and get back in the saddle. What’s five months rejection in the grand scheme of TV careers? I bet there’s plenty more to come.