Charlie Kaufman
Charlie Kaufman was born in 1958 in New York City, a city that stands as one of the cultural centers of the United States. A citizen of the United States, Kaufman works in the English language across several roles within the American film industry, including those of screenwriter, writer, film director, and film producer.
His formal education took him through a sequence of institutions in the northeastern United States. He attended Hall High School before enrolling at Boston University College of Fine Arts, and subsequently studied at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. These programs provided structured training in the arts and in the craft of storytelling as it applies to dramatic and cinematic work.
Kaufman's career spans the interrelated disciplines of writing, directing, and producing for film. His screenwriting has brought him substantial recognition within the American film industry, including the Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay, one of the most formally significant honors awarded in American cinema. He has also received the Writers Guild of America Award, a distinction granted by his professional peers in the writing community, and the Time Machine Award, an additional marker of recognition within the field.
The combination of his training at institutions including NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and his receipt of honors such as the Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay and the Writers Guild of America Award reflects a career in which formal education and professional acknowledgment have both played a part. Born in New York City in 1958, Kaufman has built his work as a screenwriter, writer, director, and producer within the context of American film culture and in the English language.
Quotes by Charlie Kaufman
Charlie Kaufman's insights on:
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. You're sitting here watching a movie. And I like that. It appeals to me intellectually, and also in a way I can't even explain.
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.
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.
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.
Starbucks is the smart coffee for dumb people. It’s the Christopher Nolan of coffee.
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.
Seriously, I don’t consider myself a writer. I don’t think I have writing talent. But I will continue to do it.
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.
I don’t think screenwriting is therapeutic. It’s actually really, really hard for me. It’s not an enjoyable process.