Adaptation · written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman · 2002

McKee condemns voice-over and insists film must show internal conflict through image and movement.

Scene 172 of 202 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Kaufman
Mckee

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:27 into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 172

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.
Scenes 127–144
Charlie finds a way to focus the material by putting himself in it, then commits to meeting Orlean.
Just before
Scene 169
Charlie spots the school where McKee’s seminar is being held.
Scene 170
Charlie joins the seminar registration line after an attractive clerk ignores him.
Scene 171
McKee lectures that story, not words, is the heart of screenwriting while Charlie hears only his own failures.
Scene 172
This scene

172INT. AUDITORIUM - LATER

McKee scribbles a diagram onto a transparency in an overhead projector. It's some kind of complicated time-line with act- breaks and corresponding page numbers indicated. The audience members take copious notes. Kaufman sweats.

KAUFMAN (V.O.)

It is my weakness, my ultimate lack of

conviction that brings me here with all

these desperate idiots lapping up

everything this bag of wind spouts. Easy

answers. Rules to short-cut yourself to

success. And here I am, because my jaunt

into the abyss brought me nothing. Well,

isn't that the risk one takes for

attempting something new. I should leave

here right now. I'll start over --

(starts to rise)

I need to face this project head on and --

MCKEE

... and God help you if you use voice-

over in your work, my friends.

Kaufman stops, looks up, startled. McKee seems to be looking at him.

MCKEE

God fucking help you! It's flaccid,

sloppy writing. Any idiot can write

voice-over narration to explain the

thoughts of a character. You must

present the internal conflicts of your

character in image, in symbol. Film is a

medium of movement and image.

Kaufman looks around at people scribbling in notebooks. "Any idiot..." writes the guy on one side of him. "Flaccid..." writes the guy on the other side.

MCKEE (cont'd)

Okay, one hour for lunch.