This Year's Hear Me Out Delays
On August 20th of this year I happened to be in Milwaukee for my nephew's wedding. It had been a rough summer on several fronts with the pandemic hitting several members of our National Circle of Judges hard with family emergencies, hospital visits and personal crises such that the Hear Me Out Monologue Festival and Awards Ceremony which usually happens on Labor Day was going to be pushed back to November 25th, the day after Thanksgiving.
August 20th had been widely advertised as the date by which this year's competition finalists would be announced. (That date has now been revised to tomorrow, October 25th.) And for that reason almost from the moment I checked in to my room at the Hilton Garden Inn Milwaukee I was attempting to access the hotel's WiFi to send out an email the 400+ writers who had submitted to this year's competition. A simple heads-up to let them know that the announcement would be delayed this year.
But weddings and travel and hotel WiFi being the unpredictable things they are, our heads-up announcement did not go out until the following day, August 21st. (Yes, folks,. you may occasionally imagine that I am surrounded by a dedicated staff of highly paid professionals but this competition is pretty much run by two people with the help of an army of volunteers.)
Writers Seeing Rejection Everywhere No Matter What
In the roughly 16 hours before our e-blast was sent, I received more than one message complaining bitterly about Hear Me Out having rejected work without even so much as a thank you. Here's one example of something someone (a former student no less) emailed me at 7pm on August 20th:
Hi Roland:
Dammit, I sent in my monologue early, checked my Spam folder repeatedly, and have heard nothing.
Rude and/or careless!
I share this here, not in an attempt to excuse our delay or to suggest anyone should feel pity or anger on my behalf. No. But I share it with you here because I do think the level of anger and mistrust that flooded my InBox that day (and others for other reasons this past year) speaks to some assumptions about the world and our relationship to it that really do beg for deeper understanding.
The Mixed Messages The Culture Sends to Writers
I get it. So much in this world seems to be designed to communicate to writers that the world really couldn't care less if you ever wrote another word.
I mean, for god sakes how many artistic institutions, non-profits which include phrases like New Play Development, American Playwrights, New Works all over their websites also jealously guard the direct email addresses of their top artistic staff.
So, yeah, the world seems to spit on writers. And it's then, maybe, no surprise that some writers feel an overwhelming urge to spit back.
Is No News Really Bad News?
But here's one thing I learned from having made a couple movies that I urge my fellow playwrights to consider.
In the film business, it's notoriously difficult to obtain a firm "no" and as it turns out, there's a good reason for this.
The people who don't want to invest (time, money, energy, you name it) in your project today are not 100% certain that tomorrow they might not feel differently. For that reason, it's virtually impossible to take a meeting in Hollywood and hear the words No thank you.
I used to find this endlessly frustrating and demoralizing until one day someone who had been lukewarm to my project in the development stage ended up investing in its distribution. It was then that I realized never hearing a firm No can occasionally pay off, even sometimes for us writers.
Think about it. You send your manuscript somewhere and you wait. And you hear nothing.
How do you benefit from the assumption that No News is Bad News?
And yes, I know that usually No News is Bad News but... even so, is it helpful to us to carry around the weight of an anticipated rejection before the real one materializes? How exactly is that useful?
"Everyone" is Not a Useful Answer to the Question: "Who's Your Audience?"
Every artist it seems is born with an unconscious fantasy that your work might connect with every living human being on the planet. It can be painful each time we confront yet one more group of people who will not be standing in line desperate for a ticket to the next new show. But make no mistake: the path to uncovering your own best audience begins the day you start to make peace with the fact that your work is not for everyone. And that, by the way, is a universally true of all good writing.
The only kind of writing that may possibly come close to universal acceptance is Hallmark Card writing.
And do you really want to be that kind of writer?
I don't think so. Make your Mama proud.
Two important events for anyone interested in the art of monologue:
Monday November 7th Roland Tec hosts a special edition of Some1Speaking
Friday November 25th: Third Annual Hear Me Out Monologue Fest & Awards Ceremony
