BEING CHARLIE KAUFMAN

Who knew?

Charlie Kaufman has made his scripts available as pdfs for download ... For free.

All his work is here for the eager script-writing student to pore over, including drafts and redrafts of the same scripts, in some cases.

What an incredible insight into the head of the most audacious, literate and thoughtful script-writer of the last decade.

The link, if you fancy a bit of cut'n'paste action is:  http://www.beingcharliekaufman.com/index.php

Furthermore, if that puts you in a dangerously Kaufmaniacal frame of mind, you might care to dedicate the afternoon to listening to two and a half hours of Kaufman being interviewed by Wired magazine here.

They also go on to show how the finished article evolved through the rewrites and design stages which is, in itself, interesting and unusual!

Finally, below, is a video interview with Kaufman as guest of honour at the Göteborg International Film Festival in February this year.  This interview is over an hour long.

I think these three resources between them give you an invaluable insight into the working practices and personality of one of the few people working in mainstream American cinema today to whom the word 'genius' could be applied without too much hyperbole.


ADDENDUM:


Having dug around a little further on the huge Being Charlie Kaufman.com website I have also found a chance to own The Theatre of the New Ear.  This was a piece of drama written by Kaufman and The Coen Brothers in conjunction with their composer Carter Burwell.  It was performed live infront of an audience, but was designed to be listened to rather than watched.

You can read all about it on Carter Burwell's website, here.

The all-star cast performed these pieces in a couple of venues in America, but only performed it in Britain at one.  If you weren't there in 2005, never fear, because you can now download the audio.  This isn't free, it'll cost you the princely sum of $7 (or £4.44 in real money, at today's exchange rate) - or $5 if you just want Charlie's part of the evening.  That is a bargain, however you cut it!

So, fire up your Paypal account and head here.

Right, without further ado - that video interview: