Charlie Kaufman is my Robert McKee

Last night I had the privilege of seeing Charlie Kaufman interviewed at Lincoln Center. The interviewer, Kent Jones, seemed a little unprepared -- mis-counting the number of features that have been made from Kaufman's scripts, running out of things to ask him about and instead pontificating about 'subjectivity.' I've been guilty of over-intellectualizing myself so I'll let Kent slide and instead talk about how Mr. Kaufman inspired me--

Basically, all the crap I've been going through trying to write this movie and please everyone is the same stuff he goes through. That makes me feel good. Kaufman's writing habits are as bad as mine sometimes get.

Kaufman was very shy, but he opened up once things got thrown to the audience for questions. He was very candid about his relationships with different directors, and how displeased he was with changes to his scripts they made, especially in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind -- which was to have been narrated throughout by the actual Chuck Barris.

It took Kaufman three years to write Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind which was screened after the interview, and which I still hope against hope will get nommed for Best Picture. It was the third time I've seen it, and it has only gotten better each time.

I didn't take a notebook, so I can't really do justice to the interview. But I walked away with some serious inspiration -- and for that I dub Charlie Kaufman my Robert McKee.

UPDATE: For those who want to read an interview, they are plentiful. Here's one done by IGN in March.