hot *and* funny

and with every rejection, we grow stronger

It’s that time of year again, fellowship rejection season!! And that means I have some fresh, silly, and sincere essays to share with you, the content-hungry masses. This week, I’m bringing you my response to this essay prompt:

Artistic Statement: At this point in time, how do you describe yourself as a writer? Tell us about the focus of your creative work, career highlights, and the potential impact of this program.

Def felt like they were asking for a lot of ground to be covered in 500 words or less, but I played left forward on the JV field hockey team in high school, so I know a thing or two about covering ground. (wait did this sports joke land? lmk in the comments.)

Here’s what I gave them:

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I’m a speechwriter-turned-screenwriter who writes female-driven comedies. Before turning to entertainment, I spent seven years as a political staffer, mastering the messages voters connect with and helping elected officials share their stories. My focus was putting women into positions of power, by working on congressional campaigns and at EMILY’s List, an organization that helps elect pro-choice Democratic women. In screenwriting, my focus is the same—I’ve just shifted from the goal of changing public policy to changing our culture. I’ve stood next to women on the brink of victory and watched them concede in close elections. I’ve seen powerful women be vulnerable and vulnerable women speak truth to power. I’ve also sat in a bullpen with broworkers who called me “the feminazi” while the internet debated “Are women funny?” The early 2010s were… a time! And it’s that mix of experiences that inspires me to tell the stories of women who are complicated, flawed, and funny.

My protagonists are usually lovable, fucked-up women who are cracking under societal pressure, like a rock star stuck between her maternal instincts and artistic ambitions, a tennis protege who learns the hard way that sponsors hate young women pulling a McEnroe, or an ADHD-addled college party girl from a high-achieving family who can’t keep up at her mother’s alma mater.

In 2019, after years of writing sketch comedy and literary humor on the side, I finally took the plunge, quit my speechwriting job, and moved to LA to get a screenwriting MFA at Loyola Marymount University. There, I started honing my craft while writing four feature screenplays and three pilots, interned for REDACTED, and spent my life savings on sunscreen. I graduated in 2022, was promptly concussed in a freak accident (which’ll make a great screenplay one day!) and finished cognitive rehab back home in New York just as the 2023 strike started. The universe’s comedic timing is solid!

I love screenwriting so much, but starting over professionally is hard. I have a growing network of peers early in their entertainment careers in NY and a few more-established LA-based connections through LMU, but I need help to get the rest of my foot in the door. I know that creative and career guidance from REDACTED, and being placed in community with fellow emerging writers, would solidify the foundation for a long and fruitful career. And I promise you, I’m putting in the work! I write six days a week. I have two features and two pilots that are read-ready at all times, and a fun new feature and goofy pilot in early stages now. Is that level of preparation a trauma response from the “Are women funny?” discourse days? Or from the years working for a politician who carries tote bags full of old briefings around to prove she’s more prepared than anyone else? Who’s to say?! But I stay ready.

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As a comedy writer, I’ve decided that application essays should be funny. Because it’s a funny thing to do, like, giving a summary of your most-recent therapy breakthrough coupled with an explanation of your hopes and dreams, and packaging it up with a little begging to be included in their program? What a hilarious premise!! So far it hasn’t worked in the traditional sense, meaning it hasn’t landed me any fellowships. BUT it has worked in a nontraditional sense, which is that it has brought me great joy and made the friends who I’ve asked to, “give this a super quick read and lmk if it’s insane before I submit it hahaha?” laugh out loud (or so they’ve claimed, and why would they lie about that??).

And maybe it’s not about the fellowships or mentorships or whatever else we might get, but about the friends we make laugh at our essays along the way <3

xoxo Meggle