The Best Rejection Letter I Ever Received

Reader, it's so good that I have it on a pillow.

Rejection mostly sucks, right? It’s the answer you don’t want after you actually tried for something. But I have the greatest rejection letter and story that goes with it.

The year was 2020. Notably bad, in case you didn’t know. I had the luxury of being gainfully employed AND getting to release the best web series that ever happened in the history of Comedy Central with Milana Vayntrub, Brian McElhaney, and Nick Kocher. Making Fun with Akilah and Milana is to this day some of the best comedic writing and acting I’ve ever been lucky enough to take part in. If you haven’t seen the videos, here’s one that went super viral:

These were all-time silly ideas that we got to realize, and that’s exactly the point of having a creative career; to have the ideas in your mind exist in real life and make everyone smile.

Well these videos (there were 3, they’re all dope) came out in April of 2020. So firmly into everyone working from home and slowly losing the thread of reality.

That summer, our little team that made these tried to sell a sketch show based on it. Should’ve been easy enough? We got tens of millions of views across the internet, the response was overwhelmingly positive, and we had tons of ideas. We pitched all over Hollywood, but in 2020, no one was making anything. And especially not comedy from women. It was hellish.

Pitching also used to take place in person, but because of Covid, we held meetings on zoom and sometimes just sent an email with a nice note, hoping the work would speak for itself. Everyone we spoke with and sent it to was positive, but there was “no money” and alas, we didn’t get to make anymore.

CUT TO: Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Fresh off her Fleabag series and with buzz all around for her overall deal with Amazon, we thought she might be the perfect person to help us bring the series to life. Well, she loved the videos, but unfortunately, like most multi-hyphenates, she was too busy, and couldn’t dedicate the time necessary to producing our show. She could have done what a lot of people do, which is never send an email and just let you wonder why they couldn’t help out, but she wrote this (you’re gonna need images on to see the pillow):

It reads,

“Dear Akilah and Milana,

Thank you for sending me your incredible pitch document. It’s hands-down the best I have ever seen!! Your work is HYSTERICAL. It was like breathing oxygen. Unbelievably sharp and insightful and just so damn funny. I’m so flattered that you thought of me and equally so sorry that I can’t get involved right now. I’m fiercely working on projects of my own and if I get involved with something outside of those I always want to be able to guarantee 100% participation and I just can’t offer that at the moment. I just know you are going to create something truly brilliant and I wish you all the luck in the world with it. I can’t wait to see it. If you’re ever in London, please do get in touch.

Thank you for “I got to tell people they were WROOONG!” - I died!

Your fan,

Phoebe”

—

What you have to understand about Hollywood is that it’s really just playing the lottery. Everybody is attractive. Most people are smart. A bunch of people are funny. And timing is everything. In a perfect world, the execs at Comedy Central wouldn’t have been laid off the moment these sketches were released and we’d be working on season 4 of a really funny sketch show. But it didn’t work out that way.

Making those sketches has opened so many doors, though. I just shot a guest star role on an ABC show and the director pulled me aside to tell me that I was cast because he loved me in that. It’s led to huge meetings and opportunities, and if we can finally get a breath after the covid of it all and the historic strikes, I’m sure I’ll finally get the chance I’ve been working towards all this time.

I sent the email to my friend, Matt, who I sold a show with in 2021. And he loved it so much he got it printed on a pillow. So now in my office I get a reminder that hard work doesn’t necessarily lead to linear successes, but there are people who I admire who also admire my work, and there’s hope that one day we will work together. I hope you know that, too. Someone is seeing the effort.

AND squee DUDE IT WAS PHOEBE WALLER-BRIDGE.

Til next time,

A