Some of Lloyd's favorite filmmakers include John Ford, Kenji Mizoguchi, Ernst Lubitsch, Stan Brakhage and Franklin Schaffner.

Following his graduation, Kaufman went on to work for Cannon Films, where he met John G. Avildsen (future Academy Award-winning director of Rocky and The Karate Kid).

During this period, Kaufman also directed and starred in his second feature film, The Battle of Love's Return (1971), which garnered positive reviews in publications such as The New York Times; wrote and co-produced the lesbian thriller Sugar Cookies (1973) with Oliver Stone; and wrote and directed the Israeli comedy flop Big Gus, What's the Fuss?

Kaufman also served as executive in charge of locations for Saturday Night Fever (1977), and was influential in choosing 2001 Odyssey as the nightclub in the film.

In 1974, Kaufman and his business partner Michael Herz founded Troma Entertainment and began producing and distributing independent action and comedy films.

In order to pay the bills, Kaufman did some freelance work for major Hollywood productions, including Rocky (edited on Troma's flatbed machines), Saturday Night Fever, and The Final Countdown, which he also produced (Kaufman has said that it was his experience on this film that made him never want to deal with a major studio again).

[7] From 1979 to 1981, the two wrote, produced and directed a series of profitable "sexy comedies" including Squeeze Play!, Waitress!, Stuck on You!

Kaufman also made a small appearance in Rocky and served as the production manager on Louis Malle's My Dinner with Andre.

Kaufman attributed the film's lack of success to cuts made to the movie after the MPAA refused to release it with an R-rating in its intended form.

Terror Firmer (1999), a slasher film set on the set of a Troma movie (with Kaufman playing a caricature of himself), and the fourth installment, Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV, which proved to be an ultimately unsuccessful revival of the series, both films failing to make an impression at the box office.

It would not be long, however, before Troma would once again experience financial hardship, this time after the expensive botched funding of a low-budget video feature titled Tales from the Crapper, which cost $250,000 despite most of the footage being unusable.

[13] In September 2008, a staged musical version of The Toxic Avenger opened at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

In December 2013, Lloyd Kaufman revealed on the podcast Chimichanga Talk[18] that he found lost behind-the-scenes footage of the film Rocky.

1 as part of its prestigious "Contenders" series - a collection of influential, innovative films made in the past 12 months that are believed will stand the test of time - honoring Kaufman along with fellow directors David Lynch, Woody Allen, the Coen Brothers, and Sofia Coppola.

In 2020, Kaufman released #ShakespearesSh*tstorm, his iteration of William Shakespeare's The Tempest, a spiritual sequel to Tromeo and Juliet.

In 2021, Kaufman served as producer on the Troma films, Brandon Bassham's Slashening: The Final Beginning & Mercedes The Muses's Divide & Conquer.