Explore Quotes by Charlie Kaufman

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I've had to deal, a lot, with my own sense of intimidation at meeting famous people - especially actors, but really any famous people.

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.

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.

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.

I have ideas written down some places, but usually I can't find them. I'm not very organized.

I think I've had pretty good experiences for the most part with the people who have directed my screenplays.

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.

I have a tendency to hire people who tend to be unattractive to the studios. Maybe this is a bad idea.

I graduated from college in 1980.

I actually think I'm probably more interested in structure than most people who write screenplays, because I think about it.

I feel like I want to keep moving toward idiosyncracy. Personal, personal, personal.

I have a lot of health anxiety.

I don't think screenwriting is therapeutic. It's actually really, really hard for me. It's not an enjoyable process.

I do throw out a lot of ideas, and I forget completely about them.

I don't write genre stuff in any form. I'm not interested in it. I always try to do the opposite of that.

As a kid, I had a background in theater.