Time for a little progress update.
I submitted my play, ‘The Fall’, to The National Theatre on 23rd January and I haven’t heard back. Not a dicky bird. Even given the Covid trials, I think it’s quite safe to say that I have been rejected.
I expected it to hurt. I was really worried about rejection, I’d convinced myself it would damage my confidence, discourage me from writing, maybe even make me stop altogether but it hasn’t. It doesn’t even sting a little bit. It only feels rude.Â
I understand they get many submissions and it’s made clear in the autoresponder that they do not reply to anything they’re not interested in developing. And yet no reply still feels rude. Â
I never understood why organisations like this, whether its theatres, publishers or employers, didn’t automatically let people know when they’d been unsuccessful. It takes, what, a minute or even less to fire off a canned answer? It’s just courtesy, right?
Maybe not.
Maybe the reason they don’t is exactly this. The feeling of being on the receiving end of an act of rudeness acts to distract the recipient, it takes away the sting of rejection.
It’s kinder than saying ‘your work stinks’.
So here’s to my future out and out rejections being this kind.
