True T.Lo Stories: Getting rejected by a literary manager

**I'm going to start a new series on this blog, "True T.Lo Stories," where I will share a true story about my life. Look for it every Saturday. I will also promote the posts through Facebook or Twitter if you forget! :) 

Years ago, I won a major screenwriting contest, and the contest held a reception for all the winners and finalists. At the reception, there was a literary manager there, and I knew that he had a history of selling a lot of studio projects so I was really hoping he would like me.

At the reception, I stared at him from across the room, and he just hung out on that other side and I watched as he conversed with other people. As the night progressed, I continued to stare like a creepy predator, and as the night neared the end, I decided to make my move and go up and talk to him.

There was a line to get to him, as other writers were also trying to swoop in on him, and after I waited my turn, I finally got my one-on-one. I hoped that I would wow him with my Midwestern charm and the fact that I had won the contest, but he seemed generally apathetic towards me.

 

After a few moments of forced conversation, he ended our talk with, "Send me an email if you have anything else."


To me, "Send me an email if you have anything else" was the literary manager equivalent to "I'll call you" after a bad one night stand. I already had the vibe that he didn't want to rep me because 1) he didn't come up to me at the reception 2) he seemed hella bored talking to me 3) me winning a contest didn't prove to him that I had what it took to be a client.

Dejected, I didn't send him anything, and weeks later, I got an email announcement from another contest stating that he had signed that winner immediately.

My ego deflated as if I had just seen on Facebook that my ex-boyfriend was getting married.

 He didn't want me? He wanted that other guy? It was all too much rejection for me to handle, so instead of moping, I moved forward and wrote other stuff with all the bitterness I harnessed inside of me.

Months and months passed, and I was surprised one afternoon to find an email from the lit manager, asking me why I never sent him more stuff.

"Huh?" I thought. "You were serious about that?"

After a few exchanges back and forth, we discussed my screenwriting career goals, and he asked me to send him 10 feature ideas. One of those story ideas was for HELL'S GAME. He rejected it and said it was too cliche. I was bummed out, thinking HELL'S GAME was amazing, but we continued to brainstorm. He sent me a copy of the script "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" and told me he wanted something like that.

I pitched him "Houdini: Serial Killer" and he said that wasn't big enough. There was already a feature about Houdini: Monster Slayer, and by this point, I was really starting to hate professional screenwriting. He sensed my frustration, and he asked me to send him a TV pilot I had been working on. I was hesitant to do so because it seemed like something he wouldn't like, but I figured, well he asked for it. So I sent it and never heard from him again.

all gifs courtesy of tumblr