The road to success is littered with speed bumps. Every celebrated actor, writer, musician, artist, inventor and entrepreneur has faced debilitating career rejection on their journey to the top. We tell their fascinating stories and break down exactly how they achieved their remarkable goals. Because hidden inside each rejection is a unique insight. And we’re here to find it.
At its heart, this podcast is about persistence and inspiration.
From the creators of Under The Influence, this show is brought to you by the Apostrophe Podcast Company and powered by Acast.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The road to success is littered with speed bumps. Every celebrated actor, writer, musician, artist, inventor and entrepreneur has faced debilitating career rejection on their journey to the top. We tell their fascinating stories and break down exactly how they achieved their remarkable goals. Because hidden inside each rejection is a unique insight. And we’re here to find it.
At its heart, this podcast is about persistence and inspiration.
From the creators of Under The Influence, this show is brought to you by the Apostrophe Podcast Company and powered by Acast.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Happy NFL Draft Day to all who celebrate.
Quarterback Josh Allen just signed a six-year, $330M contract with the Buffalo Bills, with $250M guaranteed – the largest guaranteed contract ever given to an NFL player. Yet, when Allen graduated high school, he had zero four year scholarship offers. He bounced around junior college before deciding to send 1000 emails to D-1 coaches across the country. The opening line? “I want to be your quarterback.”
Hope you’ll join us.
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In honour of the 13,700 women running today in the Boston Marathon, we bring you an encore of our favourite episodes, and take you back to a not-so-distant time when the number of women running the marathon was one. Join us as we remember the stories of two brave women – Bobbi Gibb and Kathrine Switzer – the first women to ever run the Boston Marathon, after 70 years as a men’s-only event. Plus, a few thoughts on the story from our producer, Allison.
Tell us YOUR rejection story, and you may be featured in an upcoming episode:
Record your voice: https://speak-to.us/rejection
Write to us: hello@apostrophepodcasts.ca
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Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill is one of the biggest debut albums of all time – selling 33M copies worldwide and earning Morissette the Grammy for Album of the Year. But you oughta know that just one year prior, Morissette was rejected by every major label, on a plane back home to Ottawa and “deeply depressed.” What changed everything? A spaghetti dinner, sweatpants and a glittery surfboard.
Hope you’ll join us.
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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Some companies actually advertise to their haters.
Every advertiser gets negative comments on social media. Some brands shrink away – and some take those negative comments and spin them into marketing gold.
In this episode of Under the Influence, Terry looks at Supercuts – who took negative comments about cheap haircuts and created a hilarious advertising campaign. Spirit Airlines gave haters a place to vent – then offered them 8,000 free airmiles. And drink maker Oatly actually dedicated a website to their haters.
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“Masks prevent goalies from seeing the puck at their feet.”
“Masks eliminate fear in goalies – the fear that drives them to play well.”
“Masks make goalies complacent.”
“A real man wouldn’t hide his face from his opponents.”
Rejecting the Goalie Mask.
Hope you’ll join us.
Tell us YOUR rejection story, and you may be featured in an upcoming episode:
Record your voice: https://speak-to.us/rejection
Write to us: hello@apostrophepodcasts.ca
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The season five premiere of Yellowstone drew 16 million viewers. The series creator, writer and showrunner Taylor Sheridan recently signed a nearly $200M deal with Paramount to produce the hit show and its subsequent franchise. But rewind 10 years, Sheridan had $800 to his name. He had been trying to make it as an actor in Hollywood for the better part of two decades, before deciding to quit altogether and move to Wyoming. But just then, someone said, “Why don’t you write a pilot script?”
It's good to be back. Hope you'll join us for Season 6.
Tell us YOUR rejection story, and you may be featured in an upcoming episode:
Record your voice: https://speak-to.us/rejection
Write to us: hello@apostrophepodcasts.ca
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
We regret to inform you that today marks the final episode of our fifth season. So, we thought we’d do a little call back to season one. This week, Sidney and Terry answer some of your questions. Like – why did we start this podcast? What’s our connection to each other outside the show? And is there a situation in which someone *should* give up?
Thanks for tuning in all these years. We’ll meet you right back here soon for Season Six.
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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, it’s pop rock debut rejections. We look at the stories of No Doubt – who rose to superstardom in the late ‘90s, and Chappell Roan – who was born in the late ‘90s. Both known for blending genres – both rejected by their own record labels – both persevered through it all. Hope you’ll join us.
Ask Us Anything:
Email us: hello@apostrophepodcasts.ca
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In Part Two of our Rejecting Ellen DeGeneres episode, DeGeneres reads a shocking headline in the trades, Oprah Winfrey and Laura Dern take career hits, and DeGeneres learns to just keep swimming.
Ask Us Anything:
Email us: hello@apostrophepodcasts.ca
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Ellen DeGeneres has 34 Emmy Awards and a Presidential Medal of Freedom to her name. Her talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, ran for nearly 20 years. But back in 1997, DeGeneres was starring in the sitcom Ellen, when she made a historic decision: to come out as gay. Making DeGeneres the first openly gay star of a television show. But what came next, not even her critics could have predicted.
You might think you know this story, but take a listen. You may just learn something new. Hope you'll join us.
Ask Us Anything:
Email us: hello@apostrophepodcasts.ca
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This week, we’re excited to share a brand-new podcast we think you'll enjoy. From our friends over at Canadaland, meet The Worst Podcast.
Hosted by award-winning filmmaker (and noted curmudgeon) Alan Zweig, The Worst Podcast is Canadaland’s first celebrity interview pod. Zweig finds typical celebrity interviews surface-level and predictable, so he found a solution: conversations with notable guests about the worst things in life. Rejection, anyone?
In this episode, Zweig sits down with Ron MacLean. Find The Worst Podcast wherever you’re listening right now.
Ask Us Anything:
Email us: hello@apostrophepodcasts.ca
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A Wrinkle In Time has sold 16 million copies worldwide. Time Magazine named it one of the 100 best fantasy books ever written, and the 1962 bestseller is still in print today. But when established author Madeleine L’Engle first pitched the novel to publishers, she was told it was too…strange. 10 years of rejection. 30 rejection letters from editors. One great gesture of renunciation.
This rejection story is out of this world.
Ask Us Anything:
Email us: hello@apostrophepodcasts.ca
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Still Alice the book, sold 1M copies worldwide – a national bestseller. Still Alice the movie, sold $45M worth of tickets at the box office – and won an Academy Award. But back when neuroscientist Lisa Genova first penned the novel, it was rejected by 100 book agents. She was told no one would read a book about Alzheimer’s Disease, that the subject matter was too depressing and that neuroscientists shouldn’t write fiction. Hope you’ll join us.
Ask Us Anything:
Email us: hello@apostrophepodcasts.ca
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Cuban pitcher Yennier Cano was told he’d never make the Cuban National Series. Then when he tried to leave Cuba to play in the Majors, his government banned him from playing baseball. When he finally made it to America, Cano floundered in obscurity in the minors. Today he’s one of the best relievers in Major League Baseball.
Hope you’ll join us.
Tell us YOUR rejection story:
Record your voice: https://speak-to.us/rejection
Write to us: hello@apostrophepodcasts.ca
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Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness worldwide – 50% of the world’s blindness is a result of cataracts. For 200 years, treatment of the condition involved removing the lens of the eye and substituting the function of that lens with a pair of thick glasses. But in 1949, Dr. Harold Ridley had another idea. What if he replaced the natural lens of the eye with an artificial one? Well, let’s just say the field of ophthalmology didn’t see the vision.
Hope you’ll join us.
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Each week on this podcast, we tell the stories of famous names who overcame debilitating career rejection. We’ve talked through the careers of actors, artists, authors, athletes and even an astronaut. But rejection affects us all. So this season, we wanted to hear from you.
We put out a call for your rejection stories.
You sent us voicemails, emails, comments, posts and messages. Take a listen.
Tell us YOUR rejection story, and you may be featured in an upcoming episode:
Record your voice: https://speak-to.us/rejection
Write to us: hello@apostrophepodcasts.ca
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week it's our mid-season break, and that means an encore presentation of one of our most-loved episodes: Rejecting Pedro Pascal.
Pedro Pascal is the man of the moment. In 2020 he was named one of Entertainment Weekly’s Entertainers of the Year, and in 2023 he became one of the highest-paid actors on television. But only 10 years ago, Pascal was struggling to make rent, rejected for parts and told he was aging out of Hollywood – quick. Until one afternoon, when he picked up a script for a 30-something bisexual Lothario from the 15th century...
Tell us YOUR rejection story, and you may be featured in an upcoming episode:
Record your voice: https://speak-to.us/rejection
Write to us: hello@apostrophepodcasts.ca
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
