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I Think If I've Worked Anything Through With Screenwriting It's That I'm Not Going To Be Able To Work Anything Through.
-Charlie Kaufman
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I Think If I've

Charlie Kaufman
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I Think If I've Worked Anything Through With Screenwriting It's That I'm Not Going To Be Able To Work Anything Through.

Understanding the Quote: "i think if i've worked anything through with screenwriting it's that i'm..."

This quote by Charlie Kaufman reflects deeply on the theme of thinking. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Thinking, Able, Screenwriting, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Charlie Kaufman interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Charlie Kaufman

Charlie Kaufman is celebrated for insightful thoughts on thinking and able. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Topic
Thinking
Able
Screenwriting
More From Charlie Kaufman
I Really Don't Have Any Solutions And I Don't Like Movies That Do.
Solutions
I Try To Make Things Interesting And Thought-provoking.
Thought Provoking
Interesting
Trying
I've Kind Of Come To The Conclusion That What Passes For Realism In Movies Has Nothing To Do With Reality And That My Stuff Is More Realistic Than That.
Reality
Stuff
Kind
Seriously, I Don't Consider Myself A Writer. I Don't Think I Have Writing Talent. But I Will Continue To Do It.
Writing
Thinking
Talent
Do Not Simplify. Do Not Worry About Failure. Failure Is A Badge Of Honour. It Means You Risked Failure.
Mean
Worry
Badges
My Point Of View Comes More From The Literature I've Read And The Comedy Of The Era. When I Was A Kid, Coming Across National Lampoon Magazine, That Was A Big Thing. I Suddenly Felt Like There Were Other People That Felt The Way I Did, And There Was A Way Of Expressing And Communicating This Worldview.
Kids
Views
People
There Are Too Many Ideas And Things And People. Too Many Directions To Go. I Was Starting To Believe The Reason It Matters To Care Passionately About Something, Is That It Whittles The World Down To A More Manageable Size.
Believe
Ideas
People
I Think You Just Assume That Your Memory Is Just Sort Of A Video Playback Of Your Experience, But It's Nothing Like That At All. It's A Complete Refabrication Of An Event And A Lot Of It Is Made Up, Because You're Filling In Spaces.
Memories
Thinking
Space
I've Had To Deal, A Lot, With My Own Sense Of Intimidation At Meeting Famous People - Especially Actors, But Really Any Famous People.
People
Actors
Intimidation
I Wanted To Deal With Someone's Idea Of Their Relationship.
Ideas
Wanted
Deals
You Are What You Love. Not What Loves You.
Love You
Adaptation
What You Love
I Often Have A Theme In Mind When I'm Starting. I Know That I Want Everything To Be In A World Of, Say, Evolution, Or Guilt.
Mind
Guilt
World
Clementine: This Is It, Joel. It's Going To Be Gone Soon. Joel: I Know. Clementine: What Do We Do? Joel: Enjoy It.
Gone
Eternal Sunshine
Clementines
Why Do I Fall In Love With Every Woman I See That Shows Me The Least Bit Of Attention?
Falling In Love
Attention
Eternal Sunshine
Story Ideas, But It's Also Musing On Stuff That I'm Thinking About. This Leads Me To This And This Leads Me To This. They're Kind Of Random And Haphazard. Often I Can't Find Anything. Somehow, By Doing That, Even Though I Don't Necessarily Refer To Them In A Specific Way, I Have Some Sort Of Architecture In My Head.
Thinking
Ideas
Stories
I'm Interested In Art, And I Think About The Process Of Making Art. It's Part Of My Personality, My Experience Of The World, So It Ends Up In The Movies. It's Where My Head Is.
Art
Thinking
Personality
I Like Actors - I Used To Be One.
Actors
Used
Used To Be
The World Needs You. It Doesn't Need You At A Party Having Read A Book About How To Appear Smart At Parties - These Books Exist, And They're Tempting - But Resist Falling Into That Trap. The World Needs You At The Party Starting Real Conversations, Saying, 'i Don't Know,' And Being Kind.
Real
Smart
Party
The Biggest Thing That I Came Across, Right Off The Bat, Was That You Can't Shoot This Like A Regular Movie With Multiple Takes. You Have To, Because It's Such A Protracted Process, Break It Down To The Frame And Pretty Much Get One Shot.
Bats
Break
Process
Scary Is Time Passing And Sickness And Dying And Regret And Isolation And Loneliness And Relationship Problems - As Opposed To A Guy In A Hockey Mask, Which Didn't Seem That Scary.
Regret
Loneliness
Hockey
I Think If I've Worked Anything Through With Screenwriting It's That I'm Not Going To Be Able To Work Anything Through.
Thinking
Able
Screenwriting
I Studied Acting At Boston University. I Was In The Theater Department There. Somewhere In There I Decided That Wasn't What I Was Going To Do And I Went To The B.f.a. Film Program At N.y.u.
Boston
Acting
Film
I Have A Lot Of Health Anxiety.
Anxiety
So When I Write Characters And Situations And Relationships, I Try To Sort Of Utilize What I Know About The World, Limited As It Is, And What I Hear From My Friends And See With My Relatives.
Writing
Character
Trying
I'm Interested In Trying To Explore What I Think Is The Truth At A Given Time In My Life, And Part Of The Process Of Being Honest Is - In My Mind - Talking About The Idea That You're Watching A Movie.
Thinking
Talking
Ideas
David Lynch Is Very Important To Me, And He Does Dreamlike Movies, But My Dreams Are Not Like David Lynch's Dreams. I Have No Interest In Copying Anybody's Work. It Would Never Occur To Me To Want This To Look Like Someone Else's Thing.
Dream
Important
Copying
Sand Is Overrated. It's Just Tiny Little Rocks.
Rocks
Littles
Tiny
I Can Never Watch Anything I've Been Involved In, Because I Know It, And I Know What The Making Of It Was Like, And I Know What's Been Cut Out And Changed. I Just Know It.
Cutting
Watches
Changed
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.
People
Mad
Asking
I Think I've Had Pretty Good Experiences For The Most Part With The People Who Have Directed My Screenplays. It's More That I Wanted To See What It Would Be Like If I Didn't Have To Collaborate With Anybody, To Have A Sense Of Purity Of The Thing From Beginning To End. I Liked Doing It. It's Really Different From Writing. Directing Is A More Pragmatic Experience, Where You Have To Deal With The Restrictions Of Time And Money That Force You To Make Certain Decisions You Don't Have To Make When You're Writing.
Writing
Thinking
People
I'm Not Into Extreme Sports Or Something. I Just Live A Quiet Life.
Sports
Quiet
Just Live
When I Found Myself In That Situation - That Actors Are Like Children, I Tried To Be Successful. And When It Worked And I Figured Out How To Communicate That Things Were Good - Or At Least Okay - Then I Felt Pleased.
Children
Successful
Situation
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.
Long
Library
Would Be
There's Theater In Life, Obviously, And There's Life In Theater.
Theater
Everything I've Written Is Personal - It's The Only Way I Know How To Write.
Writing
Way
Know How
I Try When I'm Writing To Leave Enough "space" For People To Have Their Own Interpretation, And Not To Direct It Toward One Conclusion. Then The Audience Would Not Be Reacting, Because They Are Being Preached To Or Lectured At. I Don't Have That Much To Say That I Think People Should Listen To Me.
Writing
Thinking
Space
As A Writer, Or As A Filmmaker, You Have To Present Yourself, And Part Of What Yourself Is Is What You're Interested In, Or What You Think Is Funny, Or What You Think Is Sad, Or What You Think Is Horrible.
Funny
Thinking
Horrible
I Don't Think The World Objectively Exists The Way We Think It Exists. There's A Constant Sort Of Storytelling Process.
Thinking
World
Way
The Sad Thing About Working On A Movie Is That You Can Never See The Movie.
Sad Things
I'm Not Working On Anything. I Was Trying To Write Something New . . . I Guess The Goal For Me Now, At Least At This Point, Is To Try To Direct Again.
Writing
Goal
Trying
I Graduated From College In 1980.
College
There Is A Lot Of Management Going On With Directing. Maybe That Was The Biggest Surprise-just The Amount Of Tending That I Had To Do. The Different Personalities . . . It's Not My Way, And It's Never Been My Function Before As A Writer. I Tend To Be A Moody And Somewhat Withdrawn Person, And I Felt Very Clearly That I Had To Throw That Away Because That Wasn't Allowed Here - There Were Other People Who Were Going To Be Filling That Role. Sometimes It Became Exhausting, Especially Around The Eleventh Hour Of The Day.
People
Personality
Different
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.
Writing
Thinking
Years
The Way I Write Is Very Much Without Kind Of A Goal. I Have Something I'm Interested In And Then I Decide I'm Going To Explore It. I Don't Know Where The Characters Are Going To Go, I Don't Know What The Movie Is Going To Do Or What The Screenplay Is Going To Do. For Me, That's The Way To Keep It Alive.
Writing
Character
Goal
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.
Long
Waiting
Together
I Actually Think I'm Probably More Interested In Structure Than Most People Who Write Screenplays, Because I Think About It.
Writing
Thinking
People
The End Is Built Into The Beginning.
Chaos
Ends
Built
I Can Talk Endlessly About Characters, Or Why Someone Did This Or That, And What That Dynamic And Interaction Is. I Really Love It, And I Think That Actors Really Respond Positively To The Fact That I Like To Talk About That Stuff, Because I'm Not Sure That All Directors Do.
Character
Thinking
Actors
I Do A Lot Of Things Intuitively. I'm Not Often Consciously Aware Of What I'm Doing. It's Like In A Dream: There's Something Going On That's Powerful But You Don't Know Exactly Why.
Dream
Powerful
Knows
I Do Throw Out A Lot Of Ideas, And I Forget Completely About Them.
Ideas
Forget
The Only Way To Do Something Interesting Is Not Care If You Fail.
Interesting
Care
Way
My Time On The Set Is The Least Of My Involvement. Most Of My Time Is In Pre-production And Post-production.
Involvement
Posts
My Time
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.
Generosity
Creative
Way
I Think That People Create The World That They Live In. Your Existence Is Very Subjective, And You Tell Stories And Organize The World Outside Of You Into These Stories To Help You Understand It.
Thinking
People
Stories
Meet Me In Montauk.
Montauk
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.
Believe
People
Interesting
Writing Is A Journey Into The Unknown.
Writing
Journey
Adaptation
Directing Is A More Pragmatic Experience, Where You Have To Deal With The Restrictions Of Time And Money That Force You To Make Certain Decisions You Don't Have To Make When You're Writing.
Writing
Decision
Restriction
I Think Dreams Are Metaphors. Everything You Do In Writing Is Metaphorical. So It Seems Like The Same Arena To Me.
Dream
Writing
Thinking
I Just Try To Be Honest, Because I Think That's Part Of My Job Description As A Writer.
Jobs
Thinking
Trying
You're Dealing With The Body, And You're Dealing With Bodily Functions. We Romanticize Everything About People In Movies.
People
Body
Bodily Functions
I Have A Background In Theater, So I Have Experience With Actors. I Like Actors - I Used To Be One.
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.
Writing
Thinking
Keys
I Think Directing And Writing Are Very Different Jobs. Obviously, Directing Is A More Social And Managerial Job. The Other Thing About Directing Is That It's A Very, Very Pragmatic Job, And Writing Isn't.
Jobs
Writing
Thinking
Every Day Of Your Life, You Have Information That Enters Your Head, And That Information Informs Your Understanding Of Things, Or Shifts It, Or Changes It, Or Deepens It, Or Confuses You. Every Day, Every Moment Of Every Day - It's Like This Thing That Happens.
Understanding
Information
Moments
You And I Share The Same Dna. Is There Anything More Lonely Than That?
Lonely
Dna
Adaptation
I Have A Tendency To Hire People Who Tend To Be Unattractive To The Studios. Maybe This Is A Bad Idea.
Ideas
People
Unattractive
And Then To See The Whole Movie, You're Pretty Much Waiting Until The End Of Production. And The Major Lifting In Terms Of Editing And All That Stuff Is Done Before You Shoot The Movie. That's An Unusual Way To Work.
Editing
Waiting
Done
There Are So Many People Who Are Making Movies Now Who Can’t Get Any Kind Of Distribution, So The Market Seems Like It’s Flooded.
People
Kind
Distribution
I Do Like Escapism. I Like Going To The Movies On A Friday Night And Seeing Something Fun.
Friday
Fun
Night
I Think That People Have Expectations Of Themselves And Other People That Are Based On These Fictions That Are Presented To Them As The Way Human Life And Relationships Could Be, In Some Sort Of Weird, Ideal World, But They Never Are. So You're Constantly Being Shown This Garbage And You Can't Get There.
Thinking
People
Expectations
The Passionate Ones, The Ones Who Go After What They Want, May Not Get What They Want, But They Remain Vital, In Touch With Themselves, And When They Lie On Their Deathbeds, They Have Few Regrets.
Regret
Lying
Passionate
It's Good When Someone Comes To A Book Or A Movie And Interacts With It. It's The Difference Between An Illustration And A Painting. An Illustration Serves A Specific Purpose, And A Painting Is Something You Can Immerse Yourself In.
Book
Illustration
Differences
I Tend To Not Only Read Reviews, But Also Every Little Stupid Thing Online. It's A Very Bad Idea, And There's A Lot Of Angry People In The World. And It's Weird To Absorb All That Weirdness.
Stupid
Ideas
People
As I'm Writing, I Start To See Connections, And Themes I Didn't See, And That Sparks Other Things. So Then I Go Back And Rewrite Things Or Alter Them. It's A Combination Of Intuition And A Lot Of Finessing. It Becomes A Combination Of The Rational And The Irrational.
Writing
Intuition
Connections
Before You Start Production, You Have Characters You Have Created Without Actors In Mind, Then All Of A Sudden You've Got Actors. They Bring An Enormous Amount In Creating These Characters, And Creating The Dynamics Between The Characters That You've Written.
Character
Creating
Mind
Humans Are Incapable Of Securely Storing High-quality Cryptographic Keys, And They Have Unacceptable Speed And Accuracy When Performing Cryptographic Operations. (they Are Also Large, Expensive To Maintain, Difficult To Manage, And They Pollute The Environment. It Is Astonishing That These Devices Continue To Be Manufactured And Deployed. But They Are Sufficiently Pervasive That We Must Design Our Protocols Around Their Limitations.)
Keys
Design
Quality
I'm Trying To Tell A Story And Do It Truthfully.
Trying
Stories
There's No Way To Approach Anything In An Objective Way. We're Completely Subjective; Our View Of The World Is Completely Controlled By Who We Are As Human Beings, As Men Or Women, By Our Age, Our History, Our Profession, By The State Of The World.
Birthday
Men
Views
I'm Jewish, And My Family Is Jewish. I Was Very Interested In Woody Allen When I Was Growing Up, But I Don't Think Of Myself As A Jewish Writer. I'm More From Suburbia, American Suburbia. I'm More From The '70s Than I Am From Judaism.
Growing Up
Thinking
My Family
If You Ever Got Me, You Wouldn't Have A Clue What To Do With Me.
Clue
Ifs
I Feel Like I Want To Keep Moving Toward Idiosyncracy. Personal, Personal, Personal.
Moving
Want
Keep Moving
We're All Subjective Beings And Trapped In Our Own Realities And Our Own Biographical Stories And Physical Bodies And Our Histories - And That's The Only Way We Can Experience The World.
Reality
Stories
World
I Think Now That I've Tried Directing, I'm Not Interested In Doing Adaptations Anymore. I Could Do An Adaptation Of Someone Else's Work That I Would Write, But The Idea Of Taking Someone Else's Material Entirely Doesn't Interest Me. One Of The Things That I Found Really Helpful, At Least In My Mind - And I've Never Discussed This With The Actors Or With The People I Work With - Is That Being A Neophyte In Directing, I Feel Like I Have A Kind Of Authority Simply Because I'm The Writer As Well.
Writing
Thinking
People
I Choose To Write Characters From The Inside Because I Feel Like That's The Way I'm Gonna Get The Most Honest Version Of Them.
Writing
Character
Way
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.
Focus
Feelings
Puppets
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.
People
Want
Way
When I'm Writing, I'm Trying To Immerse Myself In The Chaos Of An Emotional Experience, Rather Than Separate Myself From It And Look Back At It From A Distance With Clarity And Tell It As A Story. Because That's How Life Is Lived, You Know?
Distance
Writing
Emotional
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.
Encouraging
Courage
Failure
I Have A Personality That Tends To Be Somewhat Compulsive, And I Do Tend To Think In A Circular Way. I Dwell On The Same Things Over And Over And I Try To Figure Out Different Ways Of Looking At The Same Issue.
Thinking
Issues
Personality
I Hate A Movie That Will End By Telling You That The First Thing You Should Do Is Learn To Love Yourself. That Is So Insulting And Condescending, And So Meaningless. My Characters Don't Learn To Love Each Other Or Themselves.
Hate
Love Yourself
Character
I Want To Do My Own Thing, And I'm Trying To Get Closer To Realizing That As A Filmmaker.
Trying
Want
Realizing
And Also The Idea Of Not Making It Apparent That It's Different From The Rest Of The Film, Even Though There Are Visual Differences, The Audience Is Supposed To Think That They Are With Him When He Wakes Up In The Morning.
Morning
Thinking
Ideas
There Are Things That Aren't Represented In Movies That Are A Big Part Of Everyone's Life. This Is A Movie About Health And About The Body.
Body
Bigs
Sometimes I Don't Like The Books That I'm Reading.
Reading
Book
Sometimes
Yeah, Once We Decided To Use That Replacement Animation, And The Seams Are A Function Of That Animation, And Other Movies Paint Those Out, We Decided We Wanted To Keep The Presence Of The Animation And The Type Of Animation That It Was Rather Than Make It Look Polished. It Created A Kind Of Vulnerability, I Think.
Thinking
Looks
Use
I Don't Have A Style. I Wouldn't Say I Have A Style As A Writer, Either. I Know People Have Said "this Is What He Does," But When I'm Writing, I Don't Think About That. I Don't Think About A Style.
Writing
Thinking
People
Directing Was A Big Learning Experience For Me Because I Had To Deal With Every Aspect Of Everything-all This Constant Decision-making, With People Asking You Questions At Every Moment, And You Have To Have Answers For Them All.
People
Moments
Learning Experience
We Try To Organize The World, Which Isn't Organized The Way Our Brains Want To Organize It. We Tell Stories About The People In Our Lives, We Project Ideas Onto Them. We Project Relationships With People, We Make Our Lives Into Stories. I Don't Think We Can Avoid Doing That.
Thinking
Ideas
People
I Think I've Had Pretty Good Experiences For The Most Part With The People Who Have Directed My Screenplays.
Thinking
People
Screenplays
I Do Have Some Theatrical Background. I've Written Plays And Seen Plays And Read Plays. But I Also Read Novels. One Thing I Don't Read Is Screenplays.
Play
Novel
Backgrounds
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.
Thinking
Issues
Surreal
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.
Lonely
Writing
Years
There Is So Much Crap In The World, Both In Show And Other Businesses, That I Try To Be Vulnerable Myself, In The Hopes That There Is Some Truth I Can Get To, That Makes People Feel Less Alone In The World.
People
Trying
World
I Was Trying To Figure Out What A Memory Feels Like.
Memories
Trying
Figure Skating
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.
Struggle
Moving
Writing
It Occurred To Me That Every Work Of Art Is A Synecdoche, There's No Way Around It. Every Creative Work That Someone Does Can Only Represent An Aspect Of The Whole Of Something. I Can't Think Of An Exception To That.
Art
Thinking
Creative
I Think Everything I Do Is Based On My Experience In The World In One Way Or Another.
Thinking
World
Way
I Want To Create Situations That Give People Something To Think About.
Thinking
People
Giving
I Will Be Dying And So Will You, And So Will Everyone Here. That's What I Want To Explore. We're All Hurtling Towards Death, Yet Here We Are For The Moment, Alive. Each Of Us Knowing We're Going To Die, Each Of Us Secretly Believing We Won't.
Believe
Knowing
Dying
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.
Play
Differences
Ends
I Don't Think I've Had A Lonely Moment In My Life.
Lonely
Thinking
Moments
I'm Moving - As A Person And As A Writer - Through Time. I'm A Different Age. I'm Thinking About Different Things. I Have Different Life Experiences. I'm Trying To Get Closer To Being Honest. And By Closer I Mean That At Different Ages I Have Different Ideas Of What The Truth Is, And At Any Point I'm Trying To Express That At That Moment In Time.
Moving
Mean
Thinking
I Do Have, At Different Times, A Certain Kind Of Self-consciousness In The World, An Insecurity.
Self
Insecurity
Different
There's A Point I Can Get To Where I Start Writing Character And Then Through The Dialogue, After All Of This Preparation, The Thing Starts To Feel Like It's A Character Developing Through The Dialogue. A Lot Of Character Traits Do Come From Writing Dialogue, But I Have To Be Ready To Do It.
Writing
Character
Preparation
I Think Of Myself As A Guy Who Tries To Write Screenplays And Now Has Tried To Direct One. Anything More Than That Is Meaningless And It Gets In The Way Of Being A Real Human Being.
Real
Writing
Thinking
In A Lot Of Movies, Especially Big Studio Ones, They're Not Constructed In Any Other Way Than To Get People To Like Them And Then Tell Their Friends. It's A Product.
People
Way
Bigs
I'm In My Mind A Lot. I Live There.
Mind
Constantly Talking Isn't Necessarily Communicating.
Inspirational
Communication
Talking
I Don't Write Genre Stuff In Any Form. I'm Not Interested In It. I Always Try To Do The Opposite Of That.
Writing
Opposites
Trying
If I Were Doing Somebody Else's Script Or I Adapted A Book By Philip Roth, On Set There Could Be A Million Different Interpretations Of The Material And People Could Argue With Me. Certainly On Synecdoche, New York We Had Discussions And Arguments, But I Felt Like I Had Authority Because I'm A Writer.
Book
People
Different
She Was Nice. Nice Is Good.
Nice
Eternal Sunshine
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.
Real
Thinking
People
There Are Nearly Thirteen Million People In The World. None Of Those People Is An Extra. They're All The Leads Of Their Own Stories. They Have To Be Given Their Due.
People
Stories
World
I Try To Present Something That Is True So I Don't Further Destroy The World With My Contribution To It.
Trying
World
Contribution
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.
People
Answers
Reactions
The Only Honest And Generous Thing For Me To Do Is To Give People Myself. That's All I've Got As An Artist, So I Want To Do That In An Unflinching Way.
Artist
People
Giving
I Think Generally I'm Kind Of Interested In Subjective Experience, What Goes On Inside Someone's Head, That Being All They Really Know Of The World.
Thinking
Goes On
World
When You Approach Middle Age, Lots Of Stuff Happens. Your Body Is Aging, You're Watching People Around You Get Sick, You're Watching People Die, Your Mortality Becomes Very Present At That Point In Your Life.
People
Sick
Age
I Don't Think Screenwriting Is Therapeutic. It's Actually Really, Really Hard For Me. It's Not An Enjoyable Process.
Thinking
Process
Screenwriting
We're All One Thing, Like Cells In A Body. 'cept We Can't See The Body. The Way Fish Can't See The Ocean. And So We Envy Each Other. Hurt Each Other. Hate Each Other. How Silly Is That? A Heart Cell Hating A Lung Cell.
Hurt
Hate
Ocean
I Have A Lot Of Anxiety About Medical Things For Example. I Don't Think I'm Particularly Good At It, But I'd Had The Practice When I Went Into Shooting Synecdoche. It Can Be Somewhat Gratifying, Too, Because I Don't Have That Relationship With Other Adults Where I Need To Comfort Them Or They Come To Me For That.
Thinking
Anxiety
Comfort
I Don't Subscribe To Anything. I Sit There And I Try To Think About What Seems Honest To Me.
Thinking
Trying
Honest
There Really Is Only One Ending To Any Story. Human Life Ends In Death. Until Then, It Keeps Going And Gets Complicated And There's Loss. Everything Involves Loss; Every Relationship Ends In One Way Or Another.
Loss
Stories
Way
People Ask Me All The Time, "what Are Your Influences? Are You Trying To Do Beckett?" It's Like, "no, I'm Trying To Do Me." Whatever That Is. I Don't Know What That Is, But That's The Basis. I'm Trying To Be True And I'm Trying To Be Honest.
People
Trying
Honest
As A Kid, I Had A Background In Theater.
Kids
Theater
Backgrounds
I Like Titles That Are A Little Difficult, Because It's Kind Of Counterintuitive.
Titles
Littles
Kind
Everything Is More Complicated Than You Think. You Only See A Tenth Of What Is True.
Thinking
Complicated
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.
Nice
Mean
Thinking
I Have Ideas Written Down Some Places, But Usually I Can't Find Them. I'm Not Very Organized.
Ideas
Organized
Written
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.
Children
Thinking
Compassion
The Conventional Wisdom Is - People Say This All The Time - You Should Only Write Something When You're Far Enough Away From It That You Can Have A Perspective. But That's Not True. That's A Story That You're Telling. The Truth Of It Is Here, Right Now. It's The Only Truth That We Ever Know. And I'm Interested In That Truth And The Confusion Being Part Of The Experience And Sorting It Your Way Through And Figuring It Out.
Writing
People
Confusion
I Love Working With Actors. I Love Visual Things. I Always Intended To Be A Writer Who Directs And A Director Who Writes.
Writing
Directors
Actors
I'm Not A Celebrity. I'm Intentionally And Defiantly Not A Celebrity. I Don't Have Any Interest In It. I Don't Have Any Talent For It. I Keep My Personal Life Out Of My Public Life As Cleanly As I Can.
Talent
Cleanliness
Interest
I Spend A Lot Of Time In Preproduction Working With Authors, And A Lot Of Time In Postproduction.: Editing, Music, All That Sort Of Stuff. Casting. On The Set There's Not A Lot For Me To Do.
Editing
Stuff
Casting
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