Charlie Kaufman Blasts Studio Bosses Over ‘Disgusting’ Pay Packages: ‘Their Money Comes From Other People Not Getting Money’

variety.com:

Christopher Vourlias Oscar-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman blasted Hollywood studio bosses this week at the Sarajevo Film Festival, calling out their pay packages and insisting that cost-cutting executives are willing to sacrifice the art of moviemaking for the sake of profit. “It’s disgusting, because they don’t do anything,” Kaufman told Variety. “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.” The Academy Award-winning “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” writer and three-time Oscar nominee is in Sarajevo this week to receive a lifetime achievement award.

Throughout the week, he’s been spotted on the streets of the Bosnian capital wearing a gray T-shirt reading “Writers Guild on Strike.” During an interview with Variety, Kaufman peeled off one layer to reveal a second WGA-branded T-shirt beneath it.

At a Sarajevo masterclass on Monday, Kaufman insisted that the difference between art and “conventional Hollywood fare” is “the difference between truth and bullshit.” “Studios are going to continue to exist and people are going to continue to make garbage because garbage at this point … makes a fortune,” he said.