My First Rejection
Life is about learning to handle rejection.
This is a video of my first acting job — a commercial for Little Shop of Horrors, the 1983 off-Broadway musical.
You’ll notice me in the bottom part of the screen while my mother delivers the line that would make her tri-state-famous for a few years when this commercial ran all over NY, NJ, and CT: “We liked it so much, this time we brought the whole family.”
My line was, “I skipped my soccer game to come see the show.”
So, if you watched that, you’ll notice I never deliver my line.
The reason you don’t see me say it is because I was cut by the director... my uncle Rick.
(He made the right call.)
I don’t remember being upset about it. I was a kid. But I do remember the commercial airing constantly — on every channel, during every show — and watching my mom deliver that line over and over while knowing there was a version somewhere where I had one too. That’s a strange feeling when you’re young. You don’t have a word for it yet.
Turns out the word is rejection, and if you want to work in entertainment, you’d better get comfortable with it early.
Despite this inauspicious beginning, I fell in love with the business of show. My career took me to the screen not the stage, but this was hardly the last time I got cut. There have been many more passes since then — as a producer, as a writer, as someone trying to sell an idea in a room full of people who have heard a thousand ideas that week.
My favorite example: years later, I was part of the electronic press kit for Breaking Bad. I had a segment. It got cut — in favor of my boss’s line delivery. I like to think my uncle Rick would’ve appreciated the symmetry.
But the thing about rejection is that it doesn’t get easier. It just gets more familiar. You learn that the pass isn’t the end of the story — it’s the middle. The end is what you do next. Write the next book. Finish the next script. Walk into the next pitch. And each time, try to get a little better so that when you do make the cut, you know it wasn’t luck.
It might have started with a Little Shop of Horrors commercial I got cut from by my own uncle. But I’m still here. Still making things. Still trying to earn the next one.
When was a time you were rejected? How did you deal with it? Leave your story in the comments.
