The one lesson I’ve learned from life

Lynda La Plante

LYNDA LA PLANTE, 75, is a writer best known as the creator of the character Jane Tennison, and the hit TV series Prime Suspect starring Helen Mirren (pictured below left). She lives with her 14-year-old adopted son, Lorcan.

REJECTION CAN DRIVE YOUR SUCCESS

A COUPLE of years ago, I had a very bad time with ITV, who wanted to dramatise the first of my books based on the early years of Jane Tennison when she was a rookie cop. I’d written and produced more than 150 hours of drama, yet I felt like none of this experience mattered.

Every actor and director I suggested was rejected. It was humiliating and the worst experience of my life.

Then a friend, a movie producer sadly no longer with us, told me: ‘Success is the best revenge.’ He was right. I’d wasted so much time on negative thoughts which only eat away at you. Now that miserable chapter is acting as a spur to greater success.

I’ve expanded and updated the book of Widows, my first TV show from the early 1980s. Director Steve McQueen is also making a film version of it, set in Chicago and starring Viola Davis and Liam Neeson. I’m writing more early Tennison books and I’m off to New York soon to work on a US police procedural TV series.

When I had an office, I had a big notice on the wall that read: ‘Rejection Does Not Mean No!’ Actors and writers go through rejection over and over again. I get letters all the time from people trying to break into the business who are constantly turned away. I always tell them: don’t be negative.

So you’re rejected? Tell yourself that next time you’ll be successful. I know that can be hard. But rejection doesn’t mean you’re finished. Yes, it’s a setback but it’s not the end of the road. There are lots of doors out there; knock on new ones until someone lets you in.

Rejection hurts. But you can learn from it. I recently saw a documentary about how it took Rupert Everett ten years to get the finance together to make his new film about Oscar Wilde. Every time he was knocked back, he redoubled his effort. He learned that out of something bad can come something good.

AN UPDATED version of Widows by Lynda La Plante, published by Zaffre, is out now

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