Labels

Hi there amazing friends,

What do you guys make of ‘LABELS’? How do they affect you in your daily life? We’re not talking of clothes’ labels of course (like the one right above lol). Not the ones where you get a kick looking for a cheaper price either, maybe to get your hands on that awesome swimsuit now that summer is right behind the corner. Now that I just mentioned summer, I suppose that many of you are super looking forward to some wicked fun at the beach with your fantastic friends and magnificent families. Will you get INTO your swimsuit?

Oh my gosh … sorry about that. My mind drifted elsewhere …

Right – LABELS. Gossip. Anyways...This is today’s topic. Of which I’m more than sure that many screenplays out there are inundated with such scenes. Some so much so that the scenes grow ever tiring and the story gets highly predictable and boring.

Many times we fall prey to the seemingly insurmountable temptation to GOSSIP about people. It’s definitely not something good. And your screenplay needs a thorough clean up if you have too many of such scenes.
I get really irritated by these labels especially when you go on a shopping spree and you’re looking to get yourself an awesome shirt, and whilst you try it on you realize that the shop attendant left the labels at the back of the collar of the shirt you're trying on. My oh my … how irritating is that!

But how I wish … how I wish life’s labels were only that kind. If that were to be, I wouldn’t be here scribing this post. So let me carry on with this ... :)

I believe that each and every one of us has somehow been affected by labeling or gossip. Being a ‘victim’ of such dastardly behavior can leave a lasting affect which needs repairing at once. This of course only happens to whoever pays attention to such unfounded and destructive comments. Like with The Scarlet Letter or Easy A. 

You wrote yourself IN, and you write yourself OUT of such situations. It’s your call. The more you focus on them, the bigger, larger, more uncontainable they become.

A short while ago I also was attached with various labels. Some of which were worn with pride by the undersigned!  Yea I remember those insignificant moments when you discover that some ‘people’ are saying things about you, writing scenes for you! And I used to fall for their provocations and also believe their wrongdoings. I was fueling these scenes with all of my passion, and made these labels my own. I needed to write myself out of such scenes. The plot was getting ugly, very ugly indeed.

Today, luckily for my being, I’ve been blessed with wonderful people around me who help me do the proper brainstorming and write MY screenplay life. My MASTERMIND team is always pushing me forward, and there’s never a single day that goes by that my progress is not given some tweaks. But it takes MY WILL and MY ACTION to do the actual re-writes. These wonderful people can only direct me towards the IDEAL scenes. The final decision falls exclusively unto me.

The labels are all gone now. Not simply moved under the collar, but totally thorn out. Non-Existing. It feels wonderful. I wish you to experience such feeling. And I’m sure you will.

But there’s been another idea brewing inside my subconscious mind for some time now.
Just imagine for an instance, that since we’re in total control of our screenplay, and we’re also considered to be CREATIVE beings, why not put positive labels on each other?! If you truly believe that your screenplay has to have labels in some scenes, wouldn’t you rather choose the ones you wear? Not just for yourself, but also for your co-stars?

Example:

•                Instead of LIAR  – we put TRUTH-TELLER
•                Instead of DON’T TRUST THEM - we put TRUSTWORTHY
•                Instead of GAY - we put A BUNCH OF ENERGY & JOY

There’s many more to add am sure, but I’ll leave you guys to share your views on the above.

Whilst choosing today’s topic for this post I was thinking, REAL thinking, to avoid putting on a ‘WAR-AGAINST-LABELING’ style of arguing. I simply reversed the whole thing over its dead head. Use labeling to our benefit. All the time. No compromise.

There’s too much focus out there on warring against all bad things, we’re simply forgetting one major rule: Think the opposite and put all your energy in that.
How would you eliminate darkness for instance? Surely not by talking bad about DARKNESS, and what DARKNESS brings to people.

Turning on the light would actually help more, and the darkness disappears. BANG!
  
A simple exercise I found really helpful as far as new labeling goes, is that during my daily commute, with whoever I meet, I give them my own labels. Always keeping in mind that whatever I wish to others will come unto me!

Pay careful attention to whatever labels you choose to give out :)


The 'Positive Labeling Campaign' has officially begun.

To Your Screenplay Life
wenzu