lembarrasduchoix asked: Research and recognize the brilliance of Charlie Kaufman. Clearly a major influence on Harmon - and he's talked about the difference between fucking with an audience and amusing them. In the special features of Synecdoche, New York DVD, I believe.
I’ve actually watched the special features of Synecdoche, New York. The thing I remember from what he said is that in Hollywood, you have to latch onto people you like working with, because there are only a handful of people who like working with you, are talented, and are famous enough to get movies made.
But here’s a quote from an interview where he outlines a sketch he wrote (that was rejected from The Dana Carvey Show, where he was a writer) that I’d say would feel at home on Channel 101:
My stuff has nothing to do with that. Like I wrote a sketch that was called “Fifty Years to Live,” about a man who was injected with a very, very slow-acting poison—so slow that it wouldn’t be detectable and it wouldn’t look like a murder. He’s a 40-year-old man and he spends the rest of his life trying to find the guy who injected him so he can get the antidote.
