Monday, January 18, 2010

Rejection Bouquet

Two short stories rejected this morning, both with personal notes. One note contained a rather arch tone I haven't encountered outside TV animation; the other note was pleasant, the editor enjoyed the read but passed on the piece. I'll send both stories out again this evening as I'm busy now writing the first draft of story ten, from my Ten-in-Six.

Emptying out more boxes. If I desired, I could recreate my last year at Warner Bros., from January to my lay-off August 11, 2000. But I'll pitch most of stuff. (I've lived a rich life without it for almost ten years.) Various notes and memos from Lobo on-line, winning the Emmy for Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain in May, and the Cambodia trip in July. Back then, I was parked on the 14th floor, around the corner from Brad Bird's office, and around several corners from the offices of Hanna and Barbera. I recall the day the tech guy cleaned out my hard drive. CD drives were just becoming popular and he loaded seven and a half years of writing onto one CD. I remember thinking, "That's it?"

Plus two-weeks severance.

And lots of good memories.

And a ventriloquist dummy of Moe Howard.

I think I had a sign on it that read, 'WB Executive.'

6 comments:

takineko said...

Ha! You certainly know how to keep your spirits up.

JP Mac said...

Of course, I was never invited back on staff.

But that may not've been a bad thing.

Kate said...

I thought it was unprofessional to write snide, cute notes to people when you're turning their work away. One more indicator that I'm just not cut out to be in the fast lane with real verbal stunt pilots.Especially ones who get serious paychecks.
You go, John.

JP Mac said...

Normally, you don't get that in fiction. I thought the comment had merit, but missed a larger point.

But why argue? They passed.

Someone else won't.

Armando Torre said...

Hey, Mr. McCann, posting comments in this blog got me nostalgic about Freakazoid, so I drew this:

http://ajtorrepuerto.daportfolio.com/gallery/176250#15

It's actually modeled after Alex Ross' Batman #680. I just thought it would be funny to see Freakazoid relying on a middle-aged skirted (ok... kilted) Scotsman to fight his regular gallery in a very dramatic scene.

I heard of cases in which rejected plots end up recycled and sometimes even improved for a later show after being rejected. Let's hope the best for your creations.

Cheers.

JP Mac said...

Nice work, Armando.

I liked your gallery.

Keep me updated on your work and I'll put it up here.

Rejection is only the end if the artist says so. So let's, indeed, hope for the best.

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