Daily Dialogue — July 22, 2019

“To begin… To begin… How to start? I’m hungry. I should get coffee. Coffee would help me think. Maybe I should write something first, then reward myself with coffee. Coffee and a muffin. Okay, so I need to establish the themes. Maybe a banana-nut. That’s a good muffin.”

— Adaptation. (2002), screenplay by Charlie Kaufman, book by Susan Orlean

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Screenwriter. Today’s suggestion by @udanafonseka.

Trivia: Based on Writer Charlie Kaufman’s struggle to adapt the best-selling book “The Orchid Thief” by Susan Orlean. Kaufman quickly got into a writer’s block, since the book lacked the dramatic structure needed for a movie. So he decided to write a screenplay about himself struggling to write a book adaptation, exaggerating many of the story elements and characters, and making up new ones (such as a non-existent twin brother, Donald Kaufman.) Knowing that the producers would reject the idea, he did not tell them about the new direction, in which he was taking the story, and simply handed in the finished script. Although this move was supported by Spike Jonze, Kaufman himself believed it would end his career (it didn’t).

Dialogue On Dialogue: Dodging a bullet with this scene, one of many great moments in the story.