Adaptation · written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman · 2002

Charlie catches McKee outside and begs to discuss his story and his human choices.

Scene 180 of 202 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Kaufman
Mckee

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:31 into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 180

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 177
Charlie tosses and turns in his hotel bed.
Scene 178
Charlie dreams that Darwin, Aristotle, Hegel, and Orlean’s portrait fight brutally.
Scene 179
Charlie asks whether a screenplay can show people who fail to change, and McKee erupts at his denial of life’s conflict.
Scene 180
This scene

180EXT. NYC STREET - NIGHT

The last of the students are filing out. Kaufman waits, leaning against the building. McKee emerges, carrying his brown leather bag. A shaky, tired Kaufman approaches him.

KAUFMAN

Mr. McKee?

MCKEE

Yes?

KAUFMAN

I'm the guy you yelled at this morning.

MCKEE

(trying to recall)

I need more.

KAUFMAN

I was the one who thought things didn't

happen in life.

MCKEE

Oh, right, okay. Nice to see you.

KAUFMAN

I need to talk.

MCKEE

I make it a rule not to give private

tutorials to my seminar students. It

wouldn't be fair to the others.

KAUFMAN

Mr. McKee, please. My even standing here

is very scary. I don't meet people well.

I'm self-conscious and timid. But what

you said this morning shook me to the

bone. What you said was bigger than my

screenwriting choices. It's about my

choices as a human being. Please.

McKee hesitates for a moment, then reaches out and puts his arm around Kaufman.

MCKEE

I could use a drink, my friend.