theparisreview: A good form rejection letter should be like a...

theparisreview:

A good form rejection letter should be like a good execution: swift, efficient, and demonstrating the kind of brutal indifference that marks true authority. Essanay Studios, a Chicago film company from the silent era, had it down to a science. They would mail prospective screenwriters a stock list of seventeen reasons their screenplays sucked, with a check mark next to the relevant one. E.g.: IDEA HAS BEEN DONE BEFORE, NOT INTERESTING, NOT HUMOROUS, and that old classic, ROBBERY, KIDNAPPING, MURDER, SUICIDE, HARROWING DEATH-BED AND ALL SCENES OF AN UNPLEASANT NATURE SHOULD BE ELIMINATED.

This and more in today’s culture roundup.