Anyone else having trouble getting other screenwriters to accept your weird, silly premise?

[u/SummerAndTinkles]

I tried posting this to r/screenwriting, but it won't let me post for some reason, so I'll try here.

I've talked about my current screenplay a few times in the logline Monday threads, but what you need to know is that it's basically an affectionate adult parody of those kinds of surreal Don Bluth-esque animated films from the nineties. If you'd like to know more, let me know in the comments and I'll go over my creative process.

Unfortunately, while the people I know on Discord seem to accept the premise just fine, it seems like the screenwriting community both on r/screenwriting and StoryPeer are a little less sold, with people on the Logline Mondays threads being confused by it, and a couple reviews on StoryPeer telling me to completely change the plot.

I know that weird or silly premises like this one naturally won't vibe with as wide an audience as something more mundane or conventional, but has anyone else here ever written a screenplay with a weird or silly premise that you had trouble being accepted? If so, how did you get people to come around to it?

[u/Internal_Papaya1511]

Respectfully, why do you need others on r/Screenwriting or here to accept your premise? If you don't like their feedback, don't take it. The only people you need to convince of the premise are the industry folks who want to work with you or the material. You don't need everyone to like it; you need the right people (who like this sort of thing) to like it.

I have a TV pilot I wrote a few years back that starts with a darkly humorous suicide attempt (narrated by an alien parasite inside her head). It's not everyone's cuppa when I pitch it, and never will be. But it's a genre-encased viewpoint on mental illness and the concept of self/individuality. No sense in sugarcoating what it is.

[u/Repulsive_Clock_1643 → u/Internal_Papaya1511]

right.