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Charlie Kaufman | BAFTA Screenwriters’ Lecture Series

BAFTA Guru

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Charlie Kaufman is one of modern cinema’s most celebrated writers, with work including surreal fantasy Being John Malkovich, cerebral sci-fi Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, comedy drama Adaptation and extraordinary animation Anomalisa. In this lecture held at BAFTA on 30 September 2011, he discusses the techniques of writing for the big screen.

Sponsored by The JJ Charitable Trust.

Listen to this talk on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/bafta/charlie-...
Read the transcript on our website: https://www.bafta.org/media-centre/tr...

The Screenwriters' Lectures are presented as originally recorded. Some of the lectures may contain outdated comments or views which some listeners may find insensitive or offensive.

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20 Comments

@anthonysiebenmorgen7216 6 years ago

"Failure is a badge of honor. It means you risked failure."

@charlie5thumbs351 8 years ago

"And if you offer yourself with authenticity and generosity, I will be moved." I love that.

@salva5439 7 years ago

" (...) Say who you are. Really say it in your life, and in your work. Tell someone out there that it's lost; someone not yet born; someone that won't be born in 5000 years. Your writing will be a record of your time, it can't help but be. 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 recognize him or herself in you, and that will give them hope (...) "
- Charlie Kaufman

@Sam-dm8vh 7 years ago

charlie kaufman is like a character in a charlie kaufman film

@Abo_Abdullah87 8 years ago

If you are going through videos about writing and screenwriters you will notice that Kaufman doesn’t speak about certain formula or techniques or tips for writing.
He only talks about how to be an artist and what could help you to find your own way to tell a story.

@peterkovic2241 7 years ago

"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."

@daniellos333 9 years ago

He's very open and sincere about his anxiety, which is very noble.

@mrhellothere4143 6 years ago

watching this instead of actually writing lmao

@JonathanNelsonOfficial 9 years ago

Met Charlie at a coffee shop and he watched my film, he was excited and asked me questions of how I did certain things. He's a humble guy to say the very least. I didn't even feel right telling an academy award winner how to make films in any way, but I suppose this is, in part, what makes him special. No way in hell almost any other established filmmaker is going to behave that way.

@Lee-qu4ce 6 years ago (edited)

I am not a writer but I admire Charlie's work. I come back here from time to time when I'm depressed and this speech pulls me back to "normal", whatever that may be. So inspiring.

@robibonoldi 9 years ago

the best things on youtube are these kind of gems.
views are nothing... the quality of it is everything.

@JetSetDex 9 years ago (edited)

what a humble, intelligent and complex man.

@flashgordon4339 9 years ago

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle that any human being can fight and never stop fighting.

@Jaypact1 9 years ago

Man this is one of the best speeches I've heard. So honest.

@benegesserwitch 7 years ago

This speech is far more overwhelming than any other advice he could have offered. Honesty and authenticity are so difficult because we are so seldom asked to know ourselves and sit with ourselves. I even find two minutes of meditation unbearable just because my body and my Self feel like strangers who know all my secrets.

Mr. Kaufman is beautiful and never fails to challenge me

@writenowwritenow 7 years ago

It scares me to think how many brilliant people are out there, like Charlie Kaufman, who I will never learn of or from. For once, the AI algorithms got it right and showed me this video. Thanks for creating it.

@neurojitsu 6 years ago (edited)

I don't think I've seen any public lecture or talk that made me think as deeply as this, on so many fronts. I'll need to watch it many times again I think before I hear, see and make sense of what he's saying, doing and revealing all at the same time. The care, in every sense, that he put into this talk is wonderfully inspiring. And clever. And generous.

@anishdubey6780 6 months ago (edited)

. Because I think, maybe that's what art should offer. An opportunity to recognize our common humanity and vulnerability- charlie kaufman
LINE DESERVES TO BE IN HALL OF FAME

@theelliotchan 8 years ago

“A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”
― Thomas Mann

So true! example: It takes me an excruciating long time just to write in my co-workers birthday card.