"In the face of criticism, we can become bitter or better, upset or understanding, hostile or humble." — These were the words of one William Arthur Word.

BY JABBES MVULA — Most people hate criticism, I don't like it either, though depending on the approach, I may take it or just ignore it. However, little did I know that during the process of developing the script, I would go through a stage at which my script would be criticised and torn apart. This is a very important part of script development in the business of writing either film or book.

The last two weeks have been so hectic for Cyndi and I. After I finished writing the script at the end of April, I gave it to my Executive Producer (who is also my Professor in Digital Filmmaking) Cyndi Greening, to proofread it. It took her almost the whole month of May to write her detailed comments on the strengths and weaknesses of the script. She gave me her comments, together with a 19 page layout of how I could improve my script. Her comments were very good and enriching to me, but I suddenly developed fears that the guide would make my script sound American.

This is one of the times that I gave Cyndi a plus in the way she played her game as Executive Producer. She came back to me with a different approach. For a period of two weeks straight, the two of us met from morning till late to discuss the script in depth. Her role - criticising the script word for word and sentence for sentence. I had to justify why I put "that" and not "this". Sometimes we differed, sometimes we agreed, but at the end of the day, we made sure that the Zambian voice of the original script that I wrote was maintained, while at the same time making it professionally accepted.

I learned that sometimes, when you realize that criticism can be good, it can make you a better person and it can make your work better. For two weeks straight, I went to bed at 03:00 AM and was up at 06:00 AM waiting for Cyndi to pick me up. I only slept for 3 hours a day, not so healthy, but it was worth it. Am so happy with the script, but guess what, I still have a lot to do before we can start filming.

In the face of positive criticism, we have produced a better script, and I feel so humbled.