WGA and SAG regulations around appearances at festivals are complicated. The rules forbid members from promoting any work completed for a struck company. Kaufman, who previously traveled to Sarajevo in 2008 with his directorial debut, picked up the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement at this year’s WGA Awards, where he gave a scorching speech as the guild prepared to square off with the AMPTP in another round of failed contract talks.
“They tricked us into thinking we can’t do it without them,” he said of the Studios. “But the truth is they cannot do anything of value without us.”, and he spent much of the ‘90s working in comedy and sketch television before transitioning into film. He was nominated for a Writers Guild Award, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award in 1999 for hisEternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
, won a Writers Guild Award and the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.