Charlie Kaufman on the perils of thinking like a suit
"Don’t get trapped in their world of box office numbers. You don’t work for the world of box office numbers. You work for the world."
It’s easy to get focused on the industry, what gatekeepers want, and “making it.” But that can also be a trap.
“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “Being John Malkovich” screenwriter Charlie Kaufman took aim at the industry in a speech at the Writers Guild Awards:
Kaufman invoked the work of poet Adrienne Rich. “Adrienne Rich wrote, ‘I do know that art means nothing if it simply decorates the dinner table of the power which holds it hostage.”
The room grew quiet as Kaufman continued: “The world is beautiful. The world is impossibly complicated. And we have the opportunity to explore that. If we give that up for the carrot, then we might as well be the executives.”
Then Kaufman got more personal. “I have dropped the ball, I have wasted years seeking the approval of people with money. Don’t get trapped in their world of box office numbers. You don’t work for the world of box office numbers. You work for the world. Just make your story honest and tell it.
“They’ve tricked us into thinking we can’t do it without them. The truth is they can’t do anything of value without us,” Kaufman said.