Charlie Kaufman slams Hollywood execs at WGA Awards as contract talks loom – Deadline

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Oscar-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman eternal sunshine of the pure mind, He delivered an immediate acceptance speech honoring him with the Laurel Award on Sunday at the WGA Awards, which was fitting for the times when the union is preparing to take on the AMPTP in another round of contract talks.

“We’re trained to believe that what we do is secondary to what they do,” Kaufman said, looking at studio executives. The WGA released its application form on 27 February.

“We are trained to bid for people who are not motivated by curiosity but who protect their jobs,” he added.

He said, “Our business is not to contribute to their fortunes or ours, not to please them or the critics or the masses. Our business is to reflect the world, and to say what is right in the face of so many untruths.”

“The rest is window dressing at best,” he continued.

“I know art means nothing if it simply adorns the dinner table of the power that holds it hostage,” Kaufman told another round of cheers.

“The world is a mess, the world is beautiful, the world is impossibly complex and we have the opportunity to explore that.”

“If we give up that for the carrot, we might as well be the CEOs,” Being John Malkovich The writer added. “We became their followers. I dropped the ball, wasted years seeking people’s approval with money.”

“Don’t get trapped in their world of box office numbers! We don’t work for them!” Kaufman exclaimed to a third round of applause.

“We don’t work for the world of box office numbers, we work for the world.”

Encourage the clerks in the room to write honest stories.

“They fooled us into thinking we couldn’t do it without them,” he said. “But the truth is, they can’t do anything of value without us.”

And the dance floor went wild.

Actress Jessie Buckley, star of Kaufman’s Netflix movie I think of ending things, The director was awarded the Laurel Prize.