‘They’re lauded for garbage’: Charlie Kaufman slams ‘disgusting’ Hollywood studios in scathing reproach

Being John Malkovich writer Charlie Kaufman laid into the current Hollywood system during a talk at the Sarajevo Film Festival this week.

Kaufman, who was accepting a lifetime achievement award, wore a WGA-branded “strike” t-shirt to the Bosnian festival.

During a masterclass on Friday (18 August), the screenwriter issued a scathing diatribe against the major film studios.

“At this point, the only thing that makes money is garbage. It’s just fascinating. It makes a fortune, and that’s the bottom line,” Kaufman said, according to Deadline’s Zac Ntim.

“It’s very seductive to the studios but also to the people who engage and become the makers of that garbage, especially if they’re lauded for the garbage because they don’t have to look inward or think long about what they’re doing.”

The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind writer told the audience that the Writers’ Guild’s “AI issue” is broadened by the fact that “writers have been trained to eat and make the garbage too”.

“As long as they are in that arena making that s***, then you might as well have AI do it,” Kaufman said.

In a separate interview with Variety at the festival, Kaufman condemned studio bosses for profiting off of low-paid creatives. “It’s disgusting, because they don’t do anything,” he said.

“No, they do damage is what they do. They do damage to the art form. And by doing that, they do damage to humanity. And if everything is about the bottom line for them and saving money, then there’s nothing left to the art form.”

He continued: “[Studio heads] are not ushering in any kind of beautiful work by their presence. They’re kind of doing the opposite of that. And I think it’s evidenced in what Hollywood produces, and how the more expensive a movie is, the less value it has to the culture.”

It’s now been one month since the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) joined striking WGA members in the demand for fairer pay.

It is the first time that screen actors as well as writers have simultaneously withheld labour in 60 years, and has resulted in an effective shutdown of Hollywood.

Under the terms of the strike action, SAG-AFTRA has been authorising some “truly independent” productions with exemptions, allowing them to continue production.

The decision has proved controversial with many people suggesting that the exemptions undermine the rest of the workers on strike.

The union has approved more than 200 independent projects to continue filming during the strike, featuring actors including Anne Hathaway, Dakota Fanning, Jason Bateman and Matthew McConaughey.

For a full list of all the projects granted immunity under interim agreements, click here.