“The only way to do something interesting is not care if you fail.” IfsWayCareInterestingFailingSomething Interesting Author:Charlie Kaufman
“I do believe you have a wound too. I do believe it is both specific to you and common to everyone. I do believe it is the thing about you that must be hidden and protected, it is the thing that must be tap danced over five shows a day, it is the thing that won't be interesting to other people if revealed. It is the thing that makes you weak and pathetic. It is the thing that truly, truly, truly makes loving you impossible. It is your secret, even from yourself. But it is the thing that wants to live.” PeopleIfsWantBelieveShowsInterestingCommonSecretFiveImpossibleWeakWoundsProtectedPatheticLoving You Author:Charlie Kaufman
“From my vantage point in writing a story, I can't and don't and have no interest in thinking about the level of sophistication of the audience. I can only think about what interests me, and maybe what I would want to see if I were watching the movie. To me, that's the key to writing something that's not pandering.” IfsThinkingWantWritingI CanStoriesInterestLevelsAudienceKeysSophisticationVantage Point Author:Charlie Kaufman
“The difference between a movie and a play is that the production you end up with is the production. If a movie that I spent time on turns out to be crap, it's never going to be made again.” IfsMadeEndsPlayTurnsDifferencesProductionsCrap Author:Charlie Kaufman
“I really like when critics reveal their subjectivity and their humanity. I prefer it when people say nice things, but if they say not-nice things or things that are critical, I'm open to it and I accept it. I mean, I have to live with it. But I do think there's a dishonesty in not acknowledging that you're a person with an opinion. I think it's almost like a power grab.” PeopleIfsThinkingMeanPersonsHumanityAcceptingOpinionNiceCriticsCriticalDishonestyNice ThingsSubjectivity Author:Charlie Kaufman
“You spend most of your time as a director trying to move forward with the movie. It happens on a daily basis, if not more than once a day, that you are struggling with budgetary constraints. Whereas when you're writing, the limitation that you have is your imagination. So it's decidedly non-pragmatic.” IfsWritingTryingHappensMovingImaginationStruggleDirectorsBasesMoving ForwardLimitationConstraintsPragmatic Author:Charlie Kaufman
“I like for people to figure things out for themselves. It's not like I have the right answer, but if I have a visceral reaction to something, I'm sure that other people will, too.” PeopleIfsAnswersFiguresReactionsVisceralRight Answers Author:Charlie Kaufman
“I think there are things that aren't represented in movies that are a big part of everyone's life. We romanticize everything about people in movies. One of the things I don't like in movies is that people feel alone with their bodily functions in the real world, as if people in the movies don't do these things.” PeopleIfsThinkingWorldFeelsRealBigsFunctionReal WorldBodily Functions Author:Charlie Kaufman
“And so not only do you have to make that work, you can't really start putting the thing together in any form because some of the shots are very short and obviously many of them take so long, you're waiting months and months and months before you can see if it's going to be working emotionally.” IfsLongTogetherFormWaitingMonthsShots Author:Charlie Kaufman
“You get a kind of surreal feeling and also it allows you to focus on the things we want you to focus on in a new way - the stuff that's very small and mundane that happens in a person's life when they're in a hotel room. There's more interest because you're seeing a puppet do things that you're very familiar with that you might not notice if it was a human doing it.” IfsWayWantHumansKindPersonsFeelingsMightHappensStuffInterestRoomsFocusSeeingFamiliarHotelNew WaysSurrealMundanePuppetsHotel Rooms Author:Charlie Kaufman
“People will say things after a screening that it affects them in a certain way, which is why I don't like to explain what certain things are about. I want them to have that. It limits people's ability to understand something if I say it's "about this." That's happened to us a bunch on this.” PeopleIfsWayWantCertainAbilityHappenedLimitsBunchScreening Author:Charlie Kaufman
“When I'm writing a script, before I can write dialogue or anything, I have two or three hundred pages of notes, which takes me a year. So, it's not like "what happens next." I've got things that I'm thinking about but I don't settle on them. And if I try to write dialogue before then, I can't. It's just garbage.” IfsThinkingWritingTryingYearsI CanTwoHappensThreeNextPagesHundredNotesScriptsDialogueSettlingTake MeGarbage Author:Charlie Kaufman
“I think if I've worked anything through with screenwriting it's that I'm not going to be able to work anything through.” IfsThinkingAbleScreenwriting Author:Charlie Kaufman
“I think if something resonates, even if it's surreal, it's because it is relatable and I think that that's a core issue for me.” IfsThinkingIssuesCoreSurrealRelatable Author:Charlie Kaufman
“I know that as a very young child, I was afraid of death. Many children become aware of the notion of death early and it can be a very troubling thing. We're all in this continuum: I'm this age now, and if I live long enough I'll be that age. I was 20 once, I was 10, I was 4. People who are 20 now will be 50 one day. They don't know that! They know it in the abstract, but they don't know it. I'd like them to know it, because I think it gives you compassion.” PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsGivingChildrenLongEnoughAgeYoungCompassionOne DayNotionAbstractYoung ChildrenContinuumAfraid Of Death Author:Charlie Kaufman
“Say who you are, really say it in your life and in your work. Tell someone out there who is lost, someone not yet born, someone who won’t be born for 500 years. Your writing will be a record of your time. It can’t help but be that. But more importantly, if you’re honest about who you are, you’ll help that person be less lonely in their world because that person will recognise him or herself in you and that will give them hope.” IfsWorldGivingWritingYearsPersonsHelpingLostBornRecordsHonestLonelyWho You AreRecogniseLost Someone Author:Charlie Kaufman
“The way I work is not the way that you work, and the whole point of any creative act is that. What I have to offer is me, what you have to offer is you, and if you offer yourself with authenticity and generosity I will be moved.” IfsWayWholeCreativeOffersMovedAuthenticityGenerosity Author:Charlie Kaufman
“Failure is a badge of honor. It means you risked failure. And if you don’t risk failure, you’re never going to do anything that’s different from what you’ve already done or what somebody else has done.” IfsMeanDifferentDoneCourageRiskFailureHonorBraveryEncouragingFear Of FailureScreenwritersRisk-takingBadges Author:Charlie Kaufman
“If you create something that is asking for people to respond as they're going to respond, you have to allow them to respond as they're going to respond. Some of the people are going to be uninterested and some people are going to be mad for some reason, which is their business. That's just the way the world is.” PeopleIfsWorldWayReasonAskingMadUninterested Author:Charlie Kaufman
“I'm old enough, by a long shot, to remember going to the library and spending days researching. If I was looking for a line from a poem or something else I needed, that would be the trip I would have to take.” IfsLongEnoughWould BeRememberLinesNeededShotsLibrarySpendingLong Shots Author:Charlie Kaufman
