Rejection and Reading Comprehension
You look so sad for a guy who loves his job.
dictated but not read
1
It’s a quick one this week because home life is in top gear after a quick family jaunt to the beach. But whilst I was there, the strangest thing happened.
The past six or so months have been filled with rejection emails from film festivals. It’s part of the show and you never really know why you get rejected. It could be because the festival is more focused on dramas this year and you’re a comedy. It could be because they’ve already got a parenting movie in the lineup. It could be because they have no taste and wouldn’t know a good short film if it came up and bit them in the taint.
Who knows?
So after months and months of reading these emails, I had become a little numb.
After a year of festivals, we had decided to downshift into online distribution. Our primary target was the YouTube channel Omeleto which has almost 4 million subscribers. They curate and promote short films and a quick perusal of their back catalog will show you they know what they’re talking about.
So we submitted. And 2 days later, I got an email.
And I was so used to reading rejections that I almost didn’t realize we’d been accepted.
Seriously.
I was 2/3 of the way through the email before I realized what it said. I had to go back to the beginning and read the whole thing again.
And then I jumped for joy.
Literally. I scared the kids.
Rejection is very hard on a person. And you have to develop a chitin to keep from going nuts. But it was a good reminder that you also have to keep yourself open to the possibilty of success. Otherwise why are you trying? And you have to make sure that your soul remains intact when you build your armor. You have to be open and protected. And that is damn hard.
But that’s the struggle, isn’t it?
- Patrick, 7/1/26
Thanks for reading tales of the unknown penguin!
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pre-production
Can I Just Say?
Shooting begins July 11!
Beatrice Likes the Dark
Workshop July 10!
coming soon
The Ferberizing of Coral
As mentioned above, we are VERY excited that The Ferberizing of Coral will be making its online debut on Omeleto! Click the link and give the channel a look, they distribute some excellent shorts and we are very excited to have The Ferberizing of Coral counted among them.
As soon as we have a release date, you will!
friends of the unknown penguin
Talk D’Arty to Me
Star of The Ferberizing of Coral and fellow Substacker Mitzi Akaha has launched a podcast. First guest: her boyfriend and my friend who idetifies as a boy John Gallagher Jr! He has a new EP out called Almost OK and you can buy it here. (I did!)
Almost OK
Boyfriend of The Ferberizing of Coral and fellow Substacker Mitzi Akaha (and my friend who idetifies as a boy) John Gallagher Jr has a new EP out called Almost OK and you can buy it here. (I really did!)
live on stage
The Velveteen Rabbit: A Toy Story
available through Theatrical Rights Worldwide
Westlake High School (Austin, TX) - November 18-20
Theatre in the Grove (Forest Grove, OR) - February 5-June 14, 2027
Roanoke College (Salem, VA) - February 18-20, 2027
Tinker Bell
available through Dramatic Publishing
Children and Adults Theatrical Studio (Lubbok, TX) - July 24-August 2
from the vault
Carmadeggon: The Movie
Coming July 15, 2011
The story behind the comedy - https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/carmageddon-comes-to-la/
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