Charlie

That last post has been hanging out there for a while, and reading that quote again made me realize that I don't actually like it very much. On the surface it rings true, but it begs the question: Why write if you have no public at all? This is a question faced by most writers of journals at some point, though I think anyone would agree that journal writing has its own therapeutic merit. When considered from a screenwriting perspective, there seems to be no inherent value at all in writing screenplays for their own sake. So it goes without saying that the best case scenario would be to achieve some balance of the two, writing something you believe in and discovering that what you've written resonates with an audience.

The shining example of a screenwriter who has managed to balance an original voice with critical acclaim and box office success is Charlie Kaufman. He has written a string of off-beat, brilliant and starkly original films since emerging from relative obscurity in 1999 with Being John Malkovich. His latest film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, recently won the Academy Award for best original screenplay. No one does it better.