Adaptation · written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman · 2002

Orlean types that orchid hunting can be fatal.

Scene 18 of 202 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act one

Orlean

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 11 min into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 18

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.
Scene 10
Valerie and Margaret give Charlie the assignment to adapt The Orchid Thief.
Just before
Scene 15
Charlie asks Margaret to the orchid show and hides his disappointment when she invites her boyfriend.
Scene 16
Charlie watches a cashier and other women, then looks away when the cashier catches him staring.
Scene 17
Tony spots Laroche’s crew leaving the swamp and radios that he has caught poachers.
Scene 18
This scene

18INT. ORLEAN'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

Orlean types. Her delicate fingers move with a pianist's grace across the computer keyboard.

ORLEAN (V.O.)

Orchid hunting is a mortal occupation.