Writers Guild of America. (2008, October 23). Charlie Kaufman on his latest film & why “movies are dead”. YouTube. Retrieved April 28, 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxps3oouNiQ1
In an interview with the Writers Guild of America, screenwriter Charlie Kaufman who is well known for his scripts Adaptation (Jonze, 2002), Being John Malkovich (Jonze, 1999), and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Gondry, 2004) speaks about aspects of his creative art. He discusses challenges that arise from being both screenwriter and director as in his directing debut Synecdoche New York (2008). Kaufman also suggests ways to make movies more dynamic and alive for an audience and stresses the importance of being truthful and finding one’s voice.
One important aspect that I have not yet considered for my creative process is the implication of my intended role as both the screenwriter and director in this project. In Kaufman’s experience for a director there are certain things “that a director needs to think about and a writer doesn’t need to think about. And I’m trying to remove those from my thought process. Things like pragmatism. I want my imagination to be able to continue to have as free a reign as I can allow it” (Writers Guild of America, 2008).
Kaufman also questions seemingly unbending rules in the mainstream film industry on how to write a screenplay. “I think that, like in anything, like in any art form, the world opens up when you take that [a strict mindset of rules] away. And you allow yourself to think in a larger and more creative way about the process” (ibid.).
I see research as another area that may influence creative processes such as the story development. While for me this is desirable to a certain extend I intend to keep the creative process in a balance between very conscious methods that are influenced by research and unconscious procedures that I want to denominate as “uninformed creativity”.
As much as I agree to Kaufman that pragmatic thought processes can influence creative practice I don’t see this as an essentially negative and restraining aspect. On the contrary I tend to regard restrictions as a potential catalyst for creativity. The New Zealand Film Commission (2010) for instance published very useful and pragmatic guidelines to “turn your limitations into assets” (ibid.) by reducing the number of locations, characters, dialogue, scenes, shots, effects, etc. (ibid.). A film that masterfully shows the power of limitations is Lars von Trier’s The Five Obstructions (2004) in which the filmmaker asks director Jørgen Leth to remake his film The Perfect Human (1967) five times, each time with a different set of limitations imposed by von Trier. It is obvious that the strongest examples are those remakes with the severest restrictions. To me the weakest adaptation is the one without any obstructions. I believe that severe limitations can support the creative process by setting a strong focus and by creating the motivation to exhaust the limits to the most possible extreme.
Both Kaufman’s and von Trier’s approaches are valid. For the creative artist it is important to determine the method that best suits both the personal preference to work and the purpose of the project. Also, one way does not exclude the other in a black and white fashion. The artist may very well create a middle way between creative freedom and external or imposed limitations.
Footnotes
1 See also http://dipl-o-matic.nugob.org/charlie-kaufman for my transcript of this interview.
References
Gondry, M. (2004). Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. Universal City, CA: Universal Studios.
Jonze, S. (1999). Being John Malkovich. London, United Kingdom: United International Pictures.
Jonze, S. (2002). Adaptation. Culver City, CA: Columbia Tristar Home Video.
Kaufman, C. (2008). Synecdoche New York. Culver City, CA: Sony Pictures.Leth, J. (1967). The perfect human. Copenhagen, Denmark: Laterna Film.
New Zealand Film Comission. (2010). Low budget features overview. Retrieved March 25, 2010, from http://www.nzfilm.co.nz/DevelopmentAndFinancing/Low_Budget_Features/Low_Budget_Features_Overview.aspx
von Trier, L., & Leth, J. (2004). The five obstructions. Port Washington, NY: Koch Lorber Films.
Writers Guild of America. (2008, October 23). Charlie Kaufman on his latest film & why “movies are dead”. YouTube. Retrieved April 28, 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxps3oouNiQ
Further information
Please also see the audio interview by NPR.
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