Matt Smith

Hugo House: Soon you will debut a brand-new piece at Hugo House; could you tell us a little bit about it?

Matt Smith: It started small, and is becoming a screenplay.  I will turn three lunch encounters into a monologue for Visiting Hours. It is about a middle aged man who creates a family for himself.

HH: Most writers we invite to create a new piece of writing on an assigned theme say no. Why did you say yes?  

MS: Because every theme is latent in every piece. You just have to locate it. That’s what I thought.  But it was more challenging than I expected.

HH: Could you tell us a little bit about your process—how you approach writing something new?

MS: I try to write 500 words a day about anything (often don’t).  Then I mind map. Then I stand in front of Bret Fetzer and talk once every week or two for about an hour.  Then we have lunch.  After a number of tedious sessions something emerges.
 
HH: If you had one hour and you could visit anyone, living or dead, who would it be? Why?

MS: Caesar.  So I can feel really tall.

HH: If you were in prison, what item would you most want snuck in for you hidden in a cake?

MS: Prison. Pastels.