Hey all, it's me!

[PukkaPukka]

Hiya everyone from an astounded Adam...

I received this today from the Jim Henson Company with regards to my audition submission (two VHS copies, resumé and cover letter):

Dear Adam:

Thank you for your interest in the Jim Henson Company.

Unfortunately, we regret that we cannot accept the submission of your creative materials, as it is currently not our policy to receive or review these. Therefore, we are returning your materials, which have not been reviewed by anyone at the company. We will, however, keep your resumé on file for future positions in hopes that one becomes available.

We appreciate your inquiry though and wish you continued success in your career.

Best regards,
Heather Dunkin
Human Resources

It isn't that I found this response resoundingly odd (I can just reapply when they are hiring, giving updates to my resumé as needed), but what caught me as strange, was that I received SOMEONE ELSE's material submission. I called Los Angeles, and found out (from a really rude receptionist) that there were bound to be mixups in the great amount of material they had on hand from people that they were writing the same correspondence to. The guy actually said "so what do you want US to do about it?" (yeah, I just kinda wanted to know what was going on to begin with) Hmm...either way, I'm not gettin' down, and I'm going to work on this indie project I've got in the works, keep at school, and reapply when they ARE hiring (whenever that might be...urg!)...question though, for Kev and whomever else got a "Workshop Invite" thing, when did you send your material, and when did you get the response? I'm thinking this was an odd occurence, due the fact that they haven't been hiring for ages (nor having workshops)...hmm...oh well...

Down but not out,
Adam

 

[Beebers]

Wow.

If I may weigh in here.

They've gone Hollywood (read: rude).

Here's our little saga. Kevin, Lucas and I (the sum total of fishnwolfe) made a spontaneous 22 min. VHS tape in our livingroom using 50% of the characters we'd created, in total goofy adlib under my direction. We had zero editing capabilities at that time so the tape was rough indeed. At the end Kevin and Luke broke character, addressed the camera, expressed their hopes/dreams and asked for jobs with Henson. We made two copies. Nothing we did in the tape fit the specified guidelines for submission to Henson. One copy went to Henson. One went to Steve Whitmire, both in regular snailmail December of 2002. We expected nothing from it. NOTHING. We never expected a response of any kind.
Time went by, we moved on with other work, and we forgot about the tapes. 5 months later, April 2003, we received back the tape we had sent to Henson with a beautifully written response which said among other things that Kevin alone would be included in the next audition/training workshop, date to be determined. We never saw the Whitmire submission tape again.
We followed that up with a small portfolio of characters, cover/thank you letter and Kev's resume for them to keep on file, which they have.
And that's it. That's where we are. With all the upheaval, closures and layoffs, we have to infer that new hires and auditioning/training newbies are not high on the Henson list right now. Kevin framed the letter, it's on the wall, and, who knows? We know nothing.

I'm very sorry your experience was what it was.

The times, they are a-changin'.

I'll make sure Kev talks with you about this.

 

[GonzoGirl]

Hi Adam...
I'm really sorry to hear about what happened with your audition tape and the treatment you received when you had to call about getting the wrong material back. I wish I had some kind of sage advice or atleast something clever and witty to say to cheer you up, but for once, I actually can't think of anything, other than to say I am very sorry, and I am sure they bypassed something they were stupid not to take!

 

[Beauregard]

Wow.

If I may weigh in here.

They've gone Hollywood (read: rude).

That is totally and etterly true. Even Disney is politer...!

 

[Boober_Gorg]

Even Disney is politer...!

NOT!

 

[Beauregard]

NOT!

No. I am perfectly serious. I have written to JHC, and I've written to Disney. Disney was TEN TIMES politer than anyone at JHC.

 

[Beebers]

I believe you.

 

[Beauregard]

Thank you.

 

[ryhoyarbie]

They've gone Hollywood (read: rude).

heck ya. but this is hollywood we're talking about. but atleast it would have been nice for them to have actually looked at the tape just to see if they saw something they liked.

ryan

 

[Beebers]

Correct.

NYC takes all the (mostly unfair) hits for not being nice, but L.A. is one nasty place. Makes NYC seem like Shangri-La.