[Watch the video interview on YouTube here]
Film Courage: Do you meditate?
Matthew Kalil, Screenwriter/Author/Instructor: I should meditate and I do meditate mostly, but not as much as I’d like to.
As a matter of fact, I meditated this morning for the first time in a long time.
I go through stretches.
I’ve had a long history of meditation where I’ve tried many different kinds of techniques of meditating.
As you know, I’m working at the school where our saying is Meditate and Create.
Meditation to be honest is difficult. It’s a real discipline to get in at twice a day.
You’ve got to do it 20 minutes, twice a day.
I’d be lying if I say I meditate every day.
Sometimes I fall off the wagon and I forget or time passes or suddenly it’s evening and I don’t do it.
But I do benefit from it massively when I do meditate. Definitely.
Film Courage: You referenced the school. This is David Lynch’s.
Matthew: Yeah. So this is the David Lynch MFA in screenwriting. Basically David Lynch does transcendental meditation and he gave his name to a school at Maharishi International University which is a school that is basically founded around some of Maharishi’s teachings.
Transcendental meditation in particular.
Our motto is meditate and create. All our students when they come to us they meditate and they learn how to do TM [transcendental meditation] and they also create. They do their screenplays.
That’s where I’ve been working for the last four and a half years.
Film Courage: What would get in the way of someone having a regular meditation practice?
Matthew: I would say the busyness of the day, finding the space.
It’s a little bit like writing. In writing, you have to fight for your space to write.
In writing, you have to fight for your space to write.
Again, you have to fight for your space to meditate. I think even if it’s just 20 minutes, even just 10 minutes, you wake up in the morning and you think, Oh, I’m going to have a cup of tea and then I’m going to get my phone and look at Instagram or whatever.
And you kind of forget to meditate.
I think one of the biggest hurdles to meditation is finding the time.
Then secondly, the irony is that when you’re really stressed and you’ve got a lot of thoughts in your head, it’s actually difficult to meditate but that’s when you really need to meditate…(Watch the video interview on YouTube here).
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About:
Matthew Kalil is a writer, director, script editor, author and speaker. He has written and co-written over 40 produced episodes of TV and has received various grants, development funding and awards. Matthew’s productions have been screened and broadcast in Canada, Denmark, Morocco, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Kenya, South Africa, Thailand, the United States and the United Kingdom. Since receiving his MA in Screenwriting, he has been teaching, writing and mentoring students for over 20 years. Matthew has developed a unique system of screenwriting theory that helps beginners as well as established screenwriters get in touch with their creative core. His book, The Three Wells of Screenwriting, published by Michael Wiese productions with a foreword by Christopher Vogler, has been describes as a “breakthrough in the writing craft.” His workshops have touched and inspired thousands of participants and his gentle and insightful script editing guidance has helped many writers realize the stories they were always trying to tell. A charismatic speaker, Matthew has enjoyed presenting many times at the London Screenwriting Festival, the Cape Town International Animation Festival and the University Film and Video Association. Matthew is currently an Assistant Professor at the David Lynch MFA in screenwriting in the USA.
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