Adaptation · written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman · 2002

Charlie masturbates in the airplane bathroom and returns to his seat.

Scene 94 of 202 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 50 min into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 94

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.
Scene 89
Charlie commits to entering the Fakahatchee himself, making research a risky attempt to find the story.
Just before
Scene 91
On the plane, Orlean says a person must want something very badly.
Scene 92
Charlie reads Orlean’s book during the flight as her narration describes the search for the Fakahatchee.
Scene 93
Charlie imagines a loving stewardess at home, who greets him as her partner.
Scene 94
This scene

94INT. AIRPLANE BATHROOM - NIGHT

Kaufman finishes jerking off, stands, pulls up his pants, adjusts himself, and exits the bathroom.