Just Get Thirty Rejections
I’ve done a lot of weird jobs through life - sold asparagus at the side of the road, worked in a CD factory, made emergency lighting, put telephone poles in the ground, ordered prescriptions for patients, built patios, moved stone by forklift, had a paper round, look after horses, made graphics for design agencies, run bars, pulled pints, now this - a producer.
When I was young, I’d change jobs often depending on what was happening in life. The focus was always location over career. Before I began to make money as a photographer, I was itchy, moving around a lot, looking for “the answer,” adventure, trouble, freedom. Probably all of the above.
I’d work, save money, quit, adventure, come back, and hunt for work again.
My Dad worked, and still does, for a trade union. He’s always trodden the line between white collar and blue collar, relying on manual labor through recessions, building our own barns on the farm at weekends, servicing tractors, and getting back into London offices for Monday morning. He is a monster of productivity.
When the time came for my next “career” my dad would say “hunt thirty rejections.” It was similar when we chopped wood, he’d say “hit through the log, aim for the dirt beneath.”
He was talking about laws of averages, follow-through, smashing a goal, picking a target past the one you want, and finding the needle in the haystack.
Switching our mindset to getting thirty rejections is subtle, but the change is massive. For a start it takes our eye off the boiling pot, and stops us from hoping for a result, rather than creating one. This “law of thirty” can be applied to photography or filmmaking - finding access, pitching, grants, exhibitions, in fact everything in the workflow of a producer that requires us to reach out to other people.
The number 30 is significant too, it’s not unobtainable, but is high enough that we can’t labor over each with perfectionism. In order to hit thirty, we need to work swiftly, getting emails out fast, or we’ll never finish.
Most importantly it desensitizes us to “no.” Realistically most people won’t want our work. It doesn’t mean our work is bad, or we’re not good enough. Mostly it’s because we’ve missed a gap in a publication window, perhaps our topic isn’t relevant to their outlet at the time, or they won’t have the budget. It’s not personal, just finding a good fit for a story is tough.
On the way to your thirty rejections, you might begin to get some “yesses,” of course reply to the “yesses” but keep hunting the rejections for another couple days too. You might reach your thirty rejections, but also bag five “yesses”.
This is the position that you want to be in. Now you’re in control. You can choose the best offer, try to work with all five, or use the multiple offers as leverage for higher pay or a better deal. From this perspective you’ve switched the dynamic, you’re no longer begging an outlet to take your work, your work is being requested by multiple outlets. You have the choice, you’re the driver rather than the passenger.
The idea is to split your log with one swing. But If you aim at the log itself, you’ll swing, won’t follow through, and your axe will get stuck. But aim into the dirt, through the log, you’ll follow through, and won’t even notice you’ve split your log.
Over the years these little mindset shifts helped me to amass a giant resume of weird jobs. But they’ve been so helpful in my career as a filmmaker. Try them out - hunt thirty rejections, and aim your axe into the dirt.