RSVPs--Another Hollywood update

Oh--and few RSVPs on the fellowship/contest front that are already in the past: I was NOT selected as an Emmy intern--and did not even make the finals. I'm fine with this. What I'm less fine with is that I never received any kind of notification. I think that they finally received enough queries that they placed an announcement on the site saying that all finalists had been notified, but they never said that this would be their mode of communication. When you put together a large application package, with an essay and two letters of recommendation, mail it in a large envelope AND, upon request, send an additional electronic copy, you'd think maybe they could manage a mass rejection email. It wouldn't cost anything. I get that companies can no longer respond to job applicants they aren't interested in, but this has a a pretty high profile, and because of the referral letters, more than students are investing their time and energies. Maybe I'm old-fashioned to expect response. Or maybe it's rude not to send one.

At the other end of the spectrum, I was also NOT selected as a Nickleodeon Fellow. Not on the basis of my script, resume and essays, but because I missed the deadline by one day. The postmark date was a Sunday, and because, in the past, they have allowed it, I sent my application the following Monday. This year, apparently, they did not allow it, because they sent my large envelope, unopened, inside an even large envelope, along with a note explaining that I had missed the deadline. They spent four dollars on postage to do this. They could have just sent an email. Regardless, I was grateful for the effort that it took to let a delinquent applicant know that when she didn't hear anything, it had nothing to do with the quality of her application or work. That is a kindness.

So thumbs-up Nickelodeon. Thumbs-down Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Foundation.