Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Writers And Performers Divulge Their Worst Rejection Stories

They can't all be winners...

Make us preferred on Google

Part of being an artist or creative of any kind is getting used to rejection - and a lot of it. Your family may not "get" what you do. Your friends aren't likely to be super supportive and buy your work. Most publishers and record companies only want re-hashes of things that have been successful in the past. Even J.K. Rowling was rejected a kajillion times before Harry Potter made it to the public eye.


Writers and performers are going to get rejected. It's just a fact. Twitter has been having a good time with rejections lately, though. The hashtag #ShareYourRejections has turned into a strangely inspirational, often hilarious, celebration of failure.

And yeah... it's both epic and really helping people remember the wise words of Dory the fish... just keep swimming. Here are some of our favorites.


Phil LaMarr Gets A Do-Over

Giphy

I played a character on a TV show. The next time the character appeared, they put out a casting notice to replace me. But they said I was welcome to come audition again. I thought "hey, I've sucked before but never gotten a do-over!" I re-auditioned & got it! #ShareYourRejections

- Phil LaMarr

This Author Decided To Decorate

This Book of Life's Best Rejections

Giphy

I was fired from a Disney show as a character designer. I deserved it.

We had 5 pilots at WB, Disney and Nick that did not go to series.

The Book of Life was rejected by every studio except for Fox.

Sandra said no the first time I asked her to marry me. #ShareYourRejections

- Jorge R. Gutierrez

This Poets Bloodbath

Subjective Rejection

Giphy

While querying, I once got a rejection that said they, "hated the voice but loved the plot". In the SAME DAY, I got a rejection saying they, "loved the voice but hated the plot." You guys, publishing is SO SUBJECTIVE. #ShareYourRejections

- Samantha Joyce

Savage-ly Rejected

Giphy

Every single label, company, publisher and manager in Australia rejected Savage Garden until one man, John Woodruff, took a risk. It only takes one believer. #ShareYourRejections

- Darren Hayes

Frame It!

My Big Fat Greek Reject

Giphy

My agent told me I wasn't pretty and dumped me, my manager told me actors can't be writers and dumped me. A year later I starred in my first screenplay, My Big Fat Greek Wedding. #ShareYourRejections

- Nia Vardalos

Rejected For Not Knowing Yourself?

Giphy

I had a paper rejected once because I "didn't seem to know the work of Jo Sharp well enough" - I am Jo Sharp!!! #ShareYourRejections

- Professor Jo Sharp

H/T: Twitter

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

RJ Mitte and Bryan Cranston
Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Bryan Cranston Pens Heartbreaking Tribute To His 'Breaking Bad' Son After His Death By Suicide At Age 34: 'I'm In Deep Despair'

Content warning: discussions of depression and suicide.

RJ Mitte has tragically died by suicide at the age of 34.

Keep ReadingShow less
Susan Collins
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Susan Collins Dragged After GOP PAC Boosts Her Campaign In The Wrong Portland

On July 4, 1786, the city of Portland, Maine, was officially founded with its newly-minted name. Almost 60 years later in 1845, Maineiac Francis Pettygrove won a coin toss against Asa Lovejoy and named their soon-to-be incorporated city in Oregon Portland after the largest city in his home state of Maine.

Since then, Portland, Oregon, has swelled to a city of approximately 675,000 people while its namesake boasts a population of just 70,000. In 2026, when people hear Portland, they think of Oregon instead of the original city in Maine.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Whitey Taylor
CNN

CNN Just Visited A Struggling MAGA Store—And It Spells Bad News For Trump

CNN correspondent Elle Reeve returned to Whitey Taylor's Trump Town USA in Boones Mill, Virginia, for the first time since visiting in 2023, and her segment shows that business for the Donald Trump-themed shop has collapsed as more MAGA followers break away from the president.

Reeve, in a segment for Anderson Cooper 360, reported that "things aren't what they used to be" for the store. She spoke with Taylor, who revealed that the store, which used to make $12,000 to $15,000 in sales per day now only makes between $1,500 - $2,000 per day. On occasion, Taylor will hit $3,000 in sales if he's lucky.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pete Hegseth
Alex Wroblewski / AFP via Getty Images

Pete Hegseth Roasted After Video Of Him Trying And Failing To Keep Up With Marines Goes Viral

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was widely mocked after he was shown struggling to keep up with Marines while running around a track during a recent training.

In a C-SPAN video shared by FactPost on X, Hegseth is shown lagging beyond the pack as Marines jog around a track in San Diego.

Keep ReadingShow less
Vice President JD Vance speaks during a Washington, D.C., press conference on American jobs and visa fraud.
C-SPAN

JD Vance Blasted After Sharing His Absolutely Mind-Numbing Definition Of 'Socialism'

According to Merriam-Webster, socialism broadly refers to economic and political systems centered on collective or government ownership and control of the means of production.

Not exactly a concept requiring a Ph.D. to explain. One would think Vice President JD Vance, a Yale Law School graduate whose party practically uses the word as punctuation, could manage a working definition.

Keep ReadingShow less