Scott Shaw Biography
Scott Shaw is the creator of Zen Filmmaking.
Scott Shaw is an American actor, author, blogger, composer, film director, film producer, journalist, martial artist, musician, photographer, and professor.
Early Life
Shaw was born in Hollywood, California. He spent his early years in South Central Los Angeles and then returned to Hollywood for his adolescence.
Career
Shaw has had a career in both the arts and the sciences. He first became noticed as an author when his poetry and literary fiction began to be published in literary journals in the late 1970s. Beginning in the mid-1980s Shaw’s writings also began to be published on the subjects of anthropology and the social sciences. Though his writings have span many genres, Shaw is most well known as an author on the subject of the martial arts. This is due to the voluminous amount of written work he has composed on the subject. Over three hundred of his articles on the martial arts have been published and he is the author of several books on the subject.
The foundation for Shaw’s writings on the martial arts began when he was six years old. This is the point when he began his study of the Korean martial art of Hapkido. At the age of twelve he also incorporated Taekwondo into his training regime.
In 1987 Shaw was the first American to be awarded the 7th Degree Black Belt in Moo Duk Kwan Taekwondo. In 1988 he earned the rank of 7th Degree Black Belt in Kumdo. In 1996 he was the first non-Korean to be promoted to the rank of 7th Degree Black Belt by The Korea Hapkido Federation. Previous to this he had been certified a Hapkido 7th Degree Black Belt in Hapkido Moo Hak Kwan. Since that time he has been promoted to 8th Degree Black Belt in both Hapkido and Taekwondo.
Shaw has also written numerous articles and a large number of books on Zen Buddhism, Yoga, Eastern Religion and Asian Culture. His books have been translated into a number of languages. These writings are based in the fact that from his youth forward Shaw has been involved with eastern philosophy. He was a direct disciple of Swami Satchidananda. In addition, he studied with such teachers as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, and Thich Thien-An.
By the age of eighteen Shaw was a certified instructor of Hatha Yoga and meditation. At this point in his life he traveled to India where he was initiated into Buddhist, Hindu and Sufi sects and became Sannyasa. Shaw is also a Frater Rosae Crucis of the Rosicrucian Order. He frequently travels to Asia documenting Asian culture in words and on film.
Shaw has also written extensively on Filmmaking. He has focused these writings particularly on Independent Filmmaking.
As an instructor, Shaw has taught numerous seminars on Yoga, Ki Development, and Filmmaking via such educational entities as The Leaning Annex. He has also taught numerous seminars and courses on Los Angeles Cultural Demographics, Asian Studies, and Filmmaking at such institutions as California State University, Los Angeles, University of California, Los Angeles, Santa Monica College, and Los Angeles Harbor College.
Zen Filmmaking
Scott Shaw is an active actor and filmmaker. In 1991 he developed a new style of filmmaking that he titled Zen Filmmaking. This style of filmmaking is defined by the fact that no screenplay is used in the creation of a film. As Shaw states, “In Zen filmmaking the spontaneous creative energy of the filmmaker is the only defining factor. This allows for a spiritually pure source of immediate inspiration to be the only guide in the filmmaking process.” To date, Scott Shaw has produced over one-hundred feature films, documentaries, and music videos using this unique style of filmmaking.