10 Screenwriting Tips from Charlie Kaufman on how he wrote Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Oscar winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman bafta interview about the screenplay writing process in his movies I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Antkind, Anomalisa, Adaptation, Synecdoche New York, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Being John Malkovich and collaborations with Mark Kermode and Spike Jonze.
tip 1 - 0:48 - Failure is a badge of honour
tip 2 - 1:14 - Make the story and themes eternal
tip 3 - 2:17 - Make your writing honest and meaningful
tip 4 - 3:15 - Say who you are and people will recognize themselves in you
tip 5 - 5:43 - Don't explain themes of your own work, let each individual take their own meaning from it
tip 6 - 7:18 - Leave it ambiguous for the audience but explain your thoughts to your collaborators
tip 7 - 8:31 - Approach your work like your dreams would and throw away conventional approaches
tip 8 - 10:39 - Add layers to your story so it will be interesting for multiple viewings
tip 9 - 11:59 - Find your own way into the industry until you get to the work you were meant to do
tip 10 - 13:44 - Find your unique writing process that works only for you
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#charliekaufman #screenwriting #writingadvice

[@rahulshankar2093]

“We try to be experts because we are scared” SOO DAMN TRUE.

[@zazenbo]

If anyone ever made me want to write, it’s *this* guy.

[@avatarroku9154]

Have you written anything yet?

[@oohnoble]

Facts

[@zacharyayotte5553]

Best screenwriter of all time. A true artist

[@ruly8153]

I love him but I think you’ll find that the Coen brothers are the best writers of all time....

[@samcohen99]

@@ruly8153 No and No. Fred Wolf is truly the greatest screenwriter

[@j.goebbels2134]

I think fights over ranking people into arbitrary Top X lists would be a great subject for Charlie's next movie. (PS: Zach's right)

[@ruly8153]

J. Goebbels Ps no one cares And if people want to discuss who they think the best screenwriters are then why not

[@j.goebbels2134]

@@ruly8153 I care that you care.

[@AllThingsFilm1]

I can't tell you how much I really appreciate these interviews. I get so much inspiration out of them. Yet, I also find myself relating to the techniques some of the writers talk about. It makes me feel...more sane, if I were to put it into words.

[@Maros_Mari]

WOW. THIS IS THE BEST ONE FOR ME. DEEP, THOUGHTFUL, INSPIRING... SIMPLY CHARLIE KAUFMAN. I learnt a lot and got inspired to carry on, as I am battling writing a script for a short film school project.

[@RebelTemptations]

Amazing thoughts! This video is a pure MASTERPIECE. Thank you for sharing. I am an up-and-coming screenwriter. Recently I've finished my first-ever screenplay. Clips like this give me the motivation to pursue my passion even more - I'm in the process of writing my second screenplay! English is not my fluent language but that won't stop me from chasing and reaching my goals.

[@Disturbingly_Dope]

He’s a true artist with all the ups and downs of what that means. And I love his candor about it. He’s as deeply frustrated by the systems around him as he is driven.

[@johnpresnell]

Wow, this is wonderfully deep. Thank you for sharing! 🙏🏻

[@howardkoor2796]

A beautiful sensitive soul

[@pvm6732]

🙏🏾 thank you 🙏🏾

[@johnjacobjingleheimerschmi2895]

Thank you for these! Would you consider releasing them without music or at least a separate version without music? That would be awesome - thank you!

[@schmebulockjizz]

We should strive more to be like Kauffman. Stop thinking because the world its like it is, it should be left like that.

[@mickeyaugrec7560]

Brilliant. It's hard for me to be objective about CK.

[@ruly8153]

Jim Jarmusche was in my dream last night

[@geordiejones5618]

The last one for me is too relatable. 95-96% not writing because it's 100% in my head every day. My mind always tries new scenes or characters or old ones in new places. Eventually I write something just to try and not think about it. Anything worth keeping won't stop nudging me.

[@camillesfeir1251]

Barcelona

[@DavidJReidOFFICIAL]

I wanted to leave it on 420 likes lol. I was 421

[@phildiamond8549]

Ruined by unnecessary background noise.

[@simonwang8780]

The wide-eyed wind effectively allow because ounce electronically harass including a acoustic spinach. lovely, victorious visitor

[@NateTriplett]

The overly emotional music bed is so terrible I stopped watching. Stop trying to manipulate my emotions for views.

[@Sam-bn7jk]

Last person from who i'd like to get screenwriting tips

[@blaisetelfer8499]

Then why did you click on the video

[@Sam-bn7jk]

To watch it, genius

[@jessegarcia7798]

Definition of a guy that likes sniffing his own farts

[@marcogianesello6083]

After a series of extracta from interviews containing nothing but humbleness. Next time you want to try and throw around meaningless snarky buzzwords because you can't be bothered with challenging works that are too good for you, you might want to come up with an original one, so that at least it's just dumb instead of dumb AND straight up illogical

[@ubershmuck]

any actual criticism?