A story from the trenches. In September, 2001, when I was working for Focus Features, I was assigned to cover a script called ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND by Charlie Kaufman. (1/27)
You've had a good twenty years to see it by now, but if you haven't ***SPOILERS AHEAD*** Obviously I knew who Kaufman was at the time. In fact I had read his first screenplay HUMAN NATURE when he was more or less an unknown, but I digress. (2/27)
Anyway, it was early on in my career, but I knew it was something special. Going back over my original coverage – I save EVERYTHING – I thought it was one of the most brilliant, beautiful, and downright bizarre scripts I had ever read. IYKYK. I absolutely loved it. (3/27)
Except for the ending. And I knew that if he didn't change it audiences would rise up in revolt and burn the theater to the ground. I actually read the 2nd draft first and the 1st draft a few days later, but for the sake of clarity, let's take this in order: (4/27)
In the 1st draft, Joel and Clementine both undergo the procedure to have their memories erased. Joel goes to the bookstore where Clem works, but of course for them this is the first time they've met. Joel asks her out and they go to a dinner party at his friends' place. (5/27)
His friends recognize Clementine and sit them down to explain that the two of them had dated before. In fact, last time they were together for three years before they broke up and erased their memories of each other. (6/27)
The next day, Clementine storms into the doctor's office and demands he erase the last few days from her memory. Later, Joel is at a bar with his coworker when he sees Clementine across the room with another man. (7/27)
They lock eyes and she smiles at him, but for her he is a total stranger. Sad, right? Way too sad in my opinion. (8/27)
After the emotional roller coaster we've been put through, audiences will want and expect an ending where Joel and Clementine for the most part live happily ever after. And the other people on the development team agree with me because of course they do. (9/27)
So the studio – which at this point was in active development on the project – gives Kaufman story notes and after some grumbling (I imagine), he comes back with another draft. This one is wildly different. (10/27)
It opens in the year 2056 with Clementine as a very old, very unhappy old woman. The rest of the story is told in flashback. Here, Joel and Clem get back together in the end. (11/27)
They decide that for all the pain and sorrow they had to go through to get here, it was all worth it, and they make love. True love wins, right? Not quite. We then cut back to an elderly Clementine as she walks into the doctor's office to have the procedure done again. (12/27)
In fact, this is her sixteenth time. History is doomed to repeat itself forever until the day they die. This ending is in a way even more bleak and depressing so more notes and back to the drawing board once again. (13/27)
By the way, I do not take any credit for how this movie turned out. Nor should the studio. There is no doubt in my mind that Kaufman considered every possible ending and chose the one he thought was best at the time. (14/27)
So on we go to draft #3. Again, wildly different. We're back in the present day, and Kaufman is still telling the story from (a young) Clementine's point of view. At this point I should explain how unusual this is. (15/27)
Screenwriters, in my experience, tend to be a bit precious about their work and, like the rest of us, they don't want to do more than they have to. And so what we mostly see are small, incremental changes between drafts. Baby steps, not giant leaps. (16/27)
This is to say that what Kaufman did is exceedingly rare. Never seen it done before or since. (17/27)
He essentially threw his draft out the window and started over, maybe not completely from scratch, but the same story with a different structure, different characters, different dialogue each time. Not once, but ultimately three more times. (18/27)
Anyway the 3rd draft is the conventional "boy loses girl, boy wins girl" happy ending with Joel and Clem back together again, looking forward to a bright future ahead. (19/27)
But maybe something about that didn't quite ring true because, after another round of notes, Kaufman came back with YET ANOTHER draft – the 4th for those keeping score – that is more or less the movie we know and love. (20/27)
Bittersweet with a note of uncertainty that feels more grounded and realistic, less forced and not as saccharine. In other words, the best of all possible endings. (21/27)
But it took AWHILE to get there – well over a year. not including the time it took to write the draft he had originally submitted. (22/27)
Now the reason this story sticks with me is because not only did it give me some insight into the process of one of the greatest minds in screenwriting history. (23/27)
But also because it was one of the very few times where the script got better and not worse, through the development process. And I've seen a LOT of them go south over the years. (24/27)
More often than not what we see is the "too many cooks" problem where everyone has to put their grubby little paws on a project. To justify their parking space or whatever. Even when leaving well enough alone is the right way to go. (25/27)
Until the whole souffle collapses in on itself. So what's the moral of this story? It's a long, hard road to get a movie made. It takes perseverance and courage and also humility. Believe me, a lot of the notes Kaufman got were...not smart and not good. (26/27)
But he rolled with the punches and got it done. Here's the takeaway, I guess. Kaufman is a genius. And writing is rewriting. Always and forever more #screenwriting (27/27)
BONUS: If you can get your hands on FRANK OR FRANCIS, you should. It's F*CKING INSANE and absolutely worth a read (Source)
