Adaptation · written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman · 2002

Charlie writes Orlean into his screenplay and is stung by the book jacket’s reminder that she has a husband.

Scene 130 of 202 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Kaufman

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:09 into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 130

Unable to find a conventional story in The Orchid Thief, screenwriter Charlie Kaufman turns his own crisis into an increasingly self-referential adaptation.

Scenes 1–9
Charlie inhabits an isolated, self-condemning world while Orlean’s book supplies a distant model of obsession.
Scenes 10–88
Charlie wants to write honestly and make flowers matter, while also longing to be desired and understood.
Scenes 89–105
He leaves his familiar writing room and goes to Florida to search for the story firsthand.
Scenes 106–126
The swamp is ordinary, Orlean’s research fails, and Charlie experiments with increasingly personal versions of the book.
Just before
Scene 127
Charlie fantasizes about Orlean, who tells him to focus on what he cares about, and awakens with a new direction.
Scene 128
Charlie excitedly describes his revised opening while Donald pitches a more elaborate thriller chase.
Scene 129
Orlean asks Laroche about orchids, but he says he has moved on to online pornography.
Scene 130
This scene

130INT. EMPTY BEDROOM - NIGHT

Kaufman holds The Orchid Thief open with one hand and types with the other.

KAUFMAN (V.O.)

Susan Orlean drives. The golden light of

the afternoon sun caresses her sweet

face. She talks to us.

(copying from book)

"Florida is a landscape of transition and

mutation, a hybrid of ..."

Kaufman's hand slips, the book shuts. He opens it to the wrong page and sees an About The Author paragraph. The last line jumps off the page: "She now lives in New York City with her husband."