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Aaron Sorkin

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Aaron Sorkin



 
 
Aaron Benjamin Sorkin (born June 9, 1961) is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 screenwriter
Screenwriter

Screenwriters or scenarists are scriptwriters who write the screenplays from which films and television programs are made.Most screenwriters start their careers writing on speculation....
, producer
Television producer

The primary role of a television producer is to control all aspects of production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking....
 and playwright
Playwright

A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. These works may be written specifically to be performed by actors or they may be closet dramas or literary works written using dramatic forms but not meant for performance....
. After graduating from Syracuse University
Syracuse University

Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, New York. It was founded as a university in 1870, but its roots can be traced back to a seminary founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832 which eventually became Genesee College....
 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts
Bachelor of Fine Arts

In the United States, the Bachelor of Fine Arts, usually abbreviated BFA, is the standard undergraduate Academic degree for students seeking a professional education in the visual arts or performing arts....
 degree in Musical Theatre
Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining music, songs, spoken dialogue and dance. The emotional content of the piece ? humor, pathos, love, anger ? as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole....
 in 1983, Sorkin spent much of the 1980s in New York as a struggling, largely unemployed actor. He found his passion in writing plays, and quickly established himself as a young promising playwright. His stageplay A Few Good Men
A Few Good Men

A Few Good Men is a play by Aaron Sorkin, first produced on Broadway theater by David Brown in 1989. Sorkin adapted his work into a screenplay for a A Few Good Men directed by Rob Reiner, produced by Brown and starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, and Demi Moore....
 caught the attention of Hollywood producer David Brown
David Brown (producer)

David Brown is an Academy Award-winning American movie producer.Born in New York City, he is best known as the producing partner of Richard D....
, who bought the film rights before the play even premiered.

Castle Rock Entertainment
Castle Rock Entertainment

Castle Rock Entertainment is a film and television production company founded in 1987 by Martin Shafer, director Rob Reiner, Andy Scheinman, Glenn Padnick and Alan Horn....
 hired Sorkin to adapt A Few Good Men for the big screen.






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Aaron Benjamin Sorkin (born June 9, 1961) is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 screenwriter
Screenwriter

Screenwriters or scenarists are scriptwriters who write the screenplays from which films and television programs are made.Most screenwriters start their careers writing on speculation....
, producer
Television producer

The primary role of a television producer is to control all aspects of production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking....
 and playwright
Playwright

A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. These works may be written specifically to be performed by actors or they may be closet dramas or literary works written using dramatic forms but not meant for performance....
. After graduating from Syracuse University
Syracuse University

Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, New York. It was founded as a university in 1870, but its roots can be traced back to a seminary founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832 which eventually became Genesee College....
 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts
Bachelor of Fine Arts

In the United States, the Bachelor of Fine Arts, usually abbreviated BFA, is the standard undergraduate Academic degree for students seeking a professional education in the visual arts or performing arts....
 degree in Musical Theatre
Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining music, songs, spoken dialogue and dance. The emotional content of the piece ? humor, pathos, love, anger ? as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole....
 in 1983, Sorkin spent much of the 1980s in New York as a struggling, largely unemployed actor. He found his passion in writing plays, and quickly established himself as a young promising playwright. His stageplay A Few Good Men
A Few Good Men

A Few Good Men is a play by Aaron Sorkin, first produced on Broadway theater by David Brown in 1989. Sorkin adapted his work into a screenplay for a A Few Good Men directed by Rob Reiner, produced by Brown and starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, and Demi Moore....
 caught the attention of Hollywood producer David Brown
David Brown (producer)

David Brown is an Academy Award-winning American movie producer.Born in New York City, he is best known as the producing partner of Richard D....
, who bought the film rights before the play even premiered.

Castle Rock Entertainment
Castle Rock Entertainment

Castle Rock Entertainment is a film and television production company founded in 1987 by Martin Shafer, director Rob Reiner, Andy Scheinman, Glenn Padnick and Alan Horn....
 hired Sorkin to adapt A Few Good Men for the big screen. The movie, directed by Rob Reiner
Rob Reiner

Robert "Rob" Reiner is an United States actor, Film director, Film producer, writer, and political activist. As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence as Archie and Edith Bunker's son-in-law, Michael Stivic, on All in the Family....
, became a box office success. Sorkin spent the early 1990s writing two other screenplays at Castle Rock for the films Malice
Malice (film)

Malice is a 1993 in film Cinema of the United States thriller film directed by Harold Becker. The screenplay by Aaron Sorkin and Scott Frank is based on a story by Jonas McCord....
 and The American President
The American President (film)

The American President is a 1995 in film romantic comedy film film director by Rob Reiner and written by Aaron Sorkin. It stars Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen, Richard Dreyfuss and Michael J....
. In the mid-1990s he worked as a script doctor
Script doctor

A script doctor is a skilled screenwriter called in to assist a film project by rewriting parts of the screenplay to improve dialogue, pacing and other elements....
 on films such as Schindler's List
Schindler's List

Schindler's List is an Cinema of the United States biographical film about Oskar Schindler, a Germany businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand Poland Jews during the The Holocaust by employing them in his factories....
 and Bulworth
Bulworth

Bulworth is a 1998 in film Academy Award-nominated Cinema of the United States which was co-screenwriter, co-film producer and film director by the film's star, Warren Beatty....
. In 1998 his television career began when he created the comedy series Sports Night
Sports Night

Sports Night is an United States television series about a fictional sports news show and the people who work there. It focuses on the friendships, pitfalls, and ethical issues they face while trying to produce a good show under constant network pressure....
 for the ABC network. Sports Nights second season was its last, and in 1999 overlapped with the debut of Sorkin's next TV series, the political drama The West Wing
The West Wing (TV series)

The West Wing is an American television serial drama created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast from 1999 to 2006. It was produced/written by Sorkin and also produced by Thomas Schlamme....
, this time for the NBC network. The West Wing won multiple Emmy Award
Emmy Award

The Emmy Award, also known as the 'Emmy', is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards....
s, and continued for three more seasons after he left the show at the end of its fourth season in 2003. He returned to television in 2006 with the dramedy
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is an American dramedy television television program created and written by Aaron Sorkin. It takes place behind the scenes of a fictional live sketch comedy show on the fictional television network NBS , whose format is similar to NBC's Saturday Night Live....
, about the backstage drama at a late night sketch comedy show, once again for the NBC network. While Sorkin's return was met with high expectations and a lot of early online buzz before Studio 60's premiere, NBC did not renew it after its first season in which it suffered from low ratings and mixed reception in the press and on the Internet. His most recent feature film screenplay is Charlie Wilson's War
Charlie Wilson's War

Charlie Wilson's War is a 2007 in film biographical film drama film based on the true story of Democratic Party Texas Congressman Charles Wilson , who conspired with "bare knuckle attitude" Central Intelligence Agency operative Gust Avrakotos to launch Operation Cyclone, which initiated and organized the Demographics of Afghanistan Mujah...
.

After more than a decade away from the theatre, Sorkin returned to adapt for the stage his screenplay
The Farnsworth Invention
The Farnsworth Invention

The Farnsworth Invention is a stage play by Aaron Sorkin adapted from a screenplay for a film that was never produced.As a screenplay...
, which started a workshop run at La Jolla Playhouse
La Jolla Playhouse

La Jolla Playhouse is a not-for-profit, professional theatre-in-residence on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. ...
 in February 2007 and which opened on Broadway
Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City....
 in December 2007.

He battled with a cocaine addiction for many years, but after a highly publicized arrest he received treatment in a drug diversion program and rid himself of drug dependence. In television, Sorkin is known as a controlling writer, who rarely shares the job of penning teleplays
Screenplay

A screenplay or script is a written work especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing works....
 with other writers. His writing staff are more likely to do research and come up with stories for him to tell. His trademark rapid-fire dialogue and extended monologues are complemented, in television, by frequent collaborator Thomas Schlamme
Thomas Schlamme

Thomas Schlamme is an American television director.Schlamme moved from his native Houston to New York in 1973. After serving in several low level positions for production companies, he founded his own company, Schlamme Productions, in 1980....
's characteristic visual technique called the "Walk and Talk
Walk and talk

Walk and Talk - sometimes referred to as pedeconferencing - is a distinctive storytelling-technique used in film and television in which a number of characters have a conversation en route....
".

Early years

Sorkin was born in the borough
Borough (New York City)

New York City is one of the largest cities in the world, and it is segmented into boroughs for various reasons. A borough is a unique form of government which administers the five fundamental constituent parts that make up the History of New York City ....
 of Manhattan
Manhattan

Manhattan is one of the five borough of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.With a United States Census of 1,620,867 living in a land area of 22.96 square miles , Manhattan, coextensive with New York County, is the most population density county in the United States, w...
 in New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
 to Jewish parents, and raised in the wealthy suburb of Scarsdale, New York
Scarsdale, New York

Scarsdale is a community in Westchester County, New York, New York, United States, in the northern suburbs of New York City, which is both a Administrative divisions of New York#Town and a Administrative divisions of New York#Village....
. His mother was a school teacher and his father a copyright lawyer; both his older sister and brother went on to become lawyers. Sorkin took an early interest in acting. Before he reached his teenage years, his parents were taking him to the theatre to see shows such as
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a play by Edward Albee that opened on Broadway theatre at the Billy Rose Theater on October 13, 1962. The original cast featured Uta Hagen as Martha, Arthur Hill as George, Melinda Dillon as Honey and George Grizzard as Nick....
and That Championship Season
That Championship Season

That Championship Season is a 1972 play by Jason Miller . The play made its off-Broadway debut at the Estelle Newman Theatre on May 2, 1972, where it ran for 144 performances....
. At that age, Sorkin did not always comprehend the plot of the plays; nevertheless he recalls enjoying the sound of the dialogue.

Sorkin attended Scarsdale High School
Scarsdale High School

Scarsdale High School is a public high school in Scarsdale, New York, situated in the suburbs of Westchester County, founded in 1917. In its very first selection process, the United States Office of education named Scarsdale High School as "one of the 144 exemplary schools to which others may look for patterns of success."...
 where he became involved in his high school drama and theatre club. In eighth grade he played General Bullmoose in the musical
Li'l Abner
Li'l Abner (musical)

Li'l Abner is a musical theater with a book by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank, music by Gene De Paul, and lyrics by Johnny Mercer.Based on the comic strip Li'l Abner by Al Capp, the show is, on the surface, a broad parody of hillbilly but is also a pointed satire taking on any number of topics, ranging from an incompetent United Sta...
.

In 1979 Sorkin attended Syracuse University
Syracuse University

Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, New York. It was founded as a university in 1870, but its roots can be traced back to a seminary founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832 which eventually became Genesee College....
. In his freshman year
Student

The word student is etymology derived through Middle English from the Latin Latin conjugation#Principal parts for the active voice Grammatical conjugation verb "studere", Meaning "to direct one's zeal at"; hence a student could be described as 'one who directs zeal at a subject'....
 he failed a class that was a core requirement. It was a devastating setback because he wanted to be an actor, and the Drama department did not allow students to take the stage until they completed all the core freshman classes. He returned in his sophomore year determined to do better, and graduated in 1983 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Musical Theatre.

Unemployed actor, promising playwright


After graduation, Sorkin moved to New York City where he worked odd jobs ranging from delivering singing telegrams, driving a limousine, touring Alabama with the children’s theatre company Traveling Playhouse, handing out fliers promoting a hunting-and-fishing show, to bartending on Broadway
Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City....
 at theatres such as the Palace Theatre
Palace Theatre, New York

The Palace Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre theater located at 1564 Broadway in midtown-Manhattan....
. One weekend, while house sitting at a friend's place he found an IBM Selectric typewriter
IBM Selectric typewriter

The IBM Selectric typewriter is an influential electric typewriter design. It was introduced in 1961.Instead of a "basket" of pivoting typebars the Selectric had a pivoting type element that could be changed so as to display different fonts in the same document, resurrecting a capacity that had been pioneered by the moderately successful...
, started typing, and "felt a phenomenal confidence and a kind of joy that [he] had never experienced before in [his] life."

He continued writing and eventually put together his first play
Removing All Doubt which he sent to his old theatre teacher, Arthur Storch, who was impressed. In 1984, Removing All Doubt was staged for drama students at his alma mater, Syracuse University. After that, he wrote Hidden in this Picture
Hidden in this Picture

Hidden in This Picture is a one-act play by Emmy Award-winning playwright Aaron Sorkin. It consists of a single scene with four male characters, and the rights are controlled by Samuel French, Inc....
which debuted off-off-Broadway
Off-Off-Broadway

Off-Off-Broadway refers to theatrical productions including Play , musical theater or performance art pieces performed in New York City in smaller theatres than Broadway theatre productions and Off-Broadway productions....
 at Steve Olsen's West Bank Cafe Downstairs Theatre Bar in New York City in 1988. The contents of his first two plays got him a theatrical agent
Talent agent

A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds jobs for actors, musicians, model , and other people in various entertainment businesses....
. Producer John A. McQuiggan saw the production of
Hidden in this Picture and commissioned Sorkin to turn the one-act into a full-length play called Making Movies. His reputation as a playwright was quickly gaining stature on the New York theatre scene.

A Few Good Men

Sorkin got the inspiration to write his next play, a courtroom drama called A Few Good Men
A Few Good Men

A Few Good Men is a play by Aaron Sorkin, first produced on Broadway theater by David Brown in 1989. Sorkin adapted his work into a screenplay for a A Few Good Men directed by Rob Reiner, produced by Brown and starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, and Demi Moore....
, from a phone conversation with his sister Deborah, who had graduated from Boston University Law School
Boston University School of Law

Boston University School of Law is the law school affiliated with Boston University. Located in the heart of Boston University's campus on Commonwealth Avenue, Boston in Boston, Massachusetts, BU Law is housed in the tallest law school building in the United States and the tallest academic building on campus....
 and signed up for a 3-year stint with the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps
Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Navy

The Judge Advocate General's Corps also known as the "JAG Corps" or "JAG" is the legal arm of the United States Navy. Today the corps consists of a worldwide organization of more than 730 Judge Advocates, 30 Limited Duty Officer , 500 enlisted members and nearly 275 civilian personnel, serving under the direction of the Judge Advocate Gener...
. She was going to Guantanamo Bay
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is located on the shore of Guant?namo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba and has been used by the United States Navy for more than a century....
 to defend a group of Marines
Marine corps

Marines are military forces optimised for operations at sea. Historically marine forces are part of a navy. However, in some countries the marine force is under independent command....
 who came close to killing a fellow Marine in a hazing
Hazing

File:Bizutage pilote gazelle.jpgHazing is a ritualistic test and a task involving harassment, abuse or humiliation used as a way of initiation a person into a gang, club, military organization or other group....
 ordered by a superior officer. Sorkin took that information and wrote much of his story on cocktail napkins while bartending at the Palace Theatre on Broadway. He and his roommates had purchased a Macintosh 512K
Macintosh 512K

The Macintosh 512K Personal Computer, the second of a long line of Apple Macintosh computers, was the first update to the original Macintosh 128K....
 so when he returned home he would empty his pockets of the cocktail napkins and type them into the computer, forming a basis from which he wrote many drafts for
A Few Good Men.

In 1988 Sorkin sold the film rights for his play
A Few Good Men to producer David Brown
David Brown (producer)

David Brown is an Academy Award-winning American movie producer.Born in New York City, he is best known as the producing partner of Richard D....
 before it even premiered, for a deal possibly worth a sum well into six-figures. Brown had read an article in
The New York Times about Sorkin's one-act play Hidden in this Picture and found out Sorkin also had a play called A Few Good Men that was having off-Broadway readings. Brown produced A Few Good Men on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre
Music Box Theatre

The Music Box Theater is a legitimate Broadway theatre theatre located at 239 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan.The once most aptly named theater on Broadway, the intimate Music Box was designed by architect C....
. It starred Tom Hulce
Tom Hulce

Thomas Edward Hulce is an United States Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning actor, and Tony Award-winning producer....
 and was directed by Don Scardino
Don Scardino

Don Scardino is an American television director director and television producer and a former actor.Born in New York City, Scardino began his career as an actor....
. After opening in late 1989, it ran for 497 performances.

Sorkin continued writing
Making Movies and in 1990 it debuted off-Broadway
Off-Broadway

Off Broadway theater is an umbrella term for a defined set of Play , musical theater or revues performed in New York City. Originally referring to the location of a venue and its productions on a street intersecting Broadway in Manhattan's Theatre District, New York, the hub of the theater industry in the United States, the term later becam...
 at the Promenade Theatre, produced by John A. McQuiggan and directed by Don Scardino. Meanwhile, David Brown was producing a few projects at TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures

TriStar Pictures, Inc. is a Film subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, itself a subdivision of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, which is owned by Sony Pictures....
 and tried to interest them in making
A Few Good Men into a film but his proposal was declined due to the lack of star actor involvement. Brown later got a call from Alan Horn at Castle Rock Entertainment
Castle Rock Entertainment

Castle Rock Entertainment is a film and television production company founded in 1987 by Martin Shafer, director Rob Reiner, Andy Scheinman, Glenn Padnick and Alan Horn....
 who was anxious to make the film. Rob Reiner
Rob Reiner

Robert "Rob" Reiner is an United States actor, Film director, Film producer, writer, and political activist. As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence as Archie and Edith Bunker's son-in-law, Michael Stivic, on All in the Family....
, a producing partner at Castle Rock, opted to direct it.

Screenwriting career


Working under contract for Castle Rock Entertainment

In the early 1990s, Sorkin worked under contract for Castle Rock Entertainment, Inc.
Castle Rock Entertainment

Castle Rock Entertainment is a film and television production company founded in 1987 by Martin Shafer, director Rob Reiner, Andy Scheinman, Glenn Padnick and Alan Horn....
 He wrote the scripts for
A Few Good Men, Malice, and The American President: the three films grossed about $400 million worldwide. While writing for Castle Rock he became friends with colleagues such as William Goldman
William Goldman

William Goldman is an United Statesn novelist, playwright and two-time Academy Awards-winning screenwriter. He lives in New York City....
 and Rob Reiner
Rob Reiner

Robert "Rob" Reiner is an United States actor, Film director, Film producer, writer, and political activist. As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence as Archie and Edith Bunker's son-in-law, Michael Stivic, on All in the Family....
 and met his future wife, Julia Bingham, who was one of Castle Rock's business-affairs lawyers.

Sorkin wrote several drafts of the script for
A Few Good Men
A Few Good Men

A Few Good Men is a play by Aaron Sorkin, first produced on Broadway theater by David Brown in 1989. Sorkin adapted his work into a screenplay for a A Few Good Men directed by Rob Reiner, produced by Brown and starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, and Demi Moore....
in his New York apartment, learning the craft of screenwriting from a book about screenplay format
Screenwriting

Screenwriting is the art and craft of writing Screenplay for film, television or video games.Writing for film is potentially one of the most high-profile and best-paying careers available to a writer and, as such, is also perhaps the most sought after....
. He then spent several months at the Los Angeles offices of Castle Rock, working on the script with Rob Reiner. William Goldman (who regularly worked under contract at Castle Rock) became his mentor and helped him to adapt his stageplay into a screenplay. The movie was directed by Rob Reiner, starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, and Kevin Bacon, and was produced by David Brown.
A Few Good Men was released in 1992 and was a box office success.

Goldman also approached Sorkin with a story premise, which Sorkin developed into the script for
Malice
Malice (film)

Malice is a 1993 in film Cinema of the United States thriller film directed by Harold Becker. The screenplay by Aaron Sorkin and Scott Frank is based on a story by Jonas McCord....
. Goldman oversaw the project as creative consultant
Creative consultant

Creative consultant is a credit that has - particularly in the past - been given to screenwriters who have script doctor a movie screenplay. It is often given by producers in lieu of official credit....
 while Sorkin wrote the first two drafts of
Malice. Sorkin had to leave the project to finish up the script for A Few Good Men, and screenwriter Scott Frank
Scott Frank

Scott Frank is an United States screenwriter known for his work as both a writer of original works: Dead Again, Little Man Tate and The Lookout as well as adaptations of novels by authors whose strong voices and writing styles pose an additional challenge to screenwriters....
 wrote two drafts of the
Malice screenplay. When production on A Few Good Men wrapped up, Sorkin took over and continued working on the script for Malice through until the final shooting script
Shooting script

A shooting script is the version of a screenplay used during the production of a motion picture. Shooting scripts are distinct from Screenplay#spec scripts in that they make use of scene numbers , and they follow a well defined set of procedures specifying how script revisions should be implemented and circulated....
. Harold Becker directed the film, a medical thriller released in 1993, which starred Nicole Kidman and Alec Baldwin.
Malice had mixed reviews. Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby

Vincent Canby was an United States Film criticism.Canby was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Katharine Anne and Lloyd Canby. He became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there....
 in
The New York Times described the film as "deviously entertaining from its start through its finish". Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert

Roger Joseph Ebert born June 18, 1942) is an United States film criticism and screenwriter.He is known for his film review column and for two television programs Sneak Previews and At the Movies , which he co-hosted for a combined 23 years with Gene Siskel....
 panned it, and Peter Travers
Peter Travers

Peter Travers is an American film critic. He has been the regular film reviewer for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone magazines....
 in a 2000
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J....
review summarized it as having "suspense but no staying power".

Sorkin's last produced screenplay for Castle Rock was
The American President
The American President (film)

The American President is a 1995 in film romantic comedy film film director by Rob Reiner and written by Aaron Sorkin. It stars Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen, Richard Dreyfuss and Michael J....
and once again he worked with William Goldman, who served as a creative consultant. It took Sorkin a few years to write the screenplay for The American President, which started off as a massive 385-page screenplay; it was eventually whittled down to a standard shooting script of around 120 pages. Rob Reiner directed. The film was critically acclaimed. Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan

Kenneth Turan is an American film critic and Lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California....
 in the
Los Angeles Times described the film as "genial and entertaining if not notably inspired", and believed its most interesting aspects were the "pipe dreams about the American political system and where it could theoretically be headed".

Script doctor for hire

Sorkin did uncredited script work on several films in the 1990s. He did a polish of the script for
Schindler's List
Schindler's List

Schindler's List is an Cinema of the United States biographical film about Oskar Schindler, a Germany businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand Poland Jews during the The Holocaust by employing them in his factories....
at Steven Spielberg's
Steven Spielberg

Steven Allan Spielberg, KBE is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. Forbes magazine places Spielberg's net worth at $3.1 billion....
 invitation, and wrote some quips for Sean Connery
Sean Connery

Sir Thomas Sean Connery is an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA Award winning Scotland actor and film producer who is best known as the first actor to portray James Bond in cinema, starring in seven Bond films....
 and Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage

Nicolas Cage is an United States Academy Award-winning actor, film director, and Film producer, who currently manages his own production company, Saturn Films....
 in
The Rock
The Rock (film)

The Rock is a 1996 in film Academy Awards-nominated action film that primarily takes place on Alcatraz Island, and the San Francisco Bay area....
. He worked on Excess Baggage
Excess Baggage

Excess Baggage is an United States comedy film from 1997 in film, directed by Marco Brambilla....
, a comedy about a girl who stages her own kidnapping to get her father's attention, and rewrote some of Will Smith's
Will Smith

Willard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. is an United Statesn actor, film producer and rapping. He has enjoyed success in music, television and film....
 scenes in
Enemy of the State.

Sorkin collaborated with Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty

Warren Beatty is an United States Academy Award- and Golden Globe-winning actor, film producer, screenwriter and film director....
 on a couple of scripts, one of which was
Bulworth
Bulworth

Bulworth is a 1998 in film Academy Award-nominated Cinema of the United States which was co-screenwriter, co-film producer and film director by the film's star, Warren Beatty....
. Beatty, known for occasionally personally financing his film projects through pre-production, also hired Sorkin to rewrite a script titled Ocean of Storms which never went into production. At one point Sorkin sued Beatty for proper compensation for his work on the Ocean of Storms script, however, he eventually continued working on the script once the matter was settled.

Sports Night

Sorkin came up with the idea to write about the behind-the-scenes happenings on a sports show while he was living in a room in the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles writing the screenplay for The American President. He would work late, with the TV tuned into ESPN
ESPN

ESPN is a United States cable television Television network dedicated to Broadcasting of sports events and producing sports-related programming 24 hours a day....
, watching continuous replays of
SportsCenter
SportsCenter

SportsCenter is a daily sports news television show, and the flagship program of United States cable network ESPN since the network launched on September 7, 1979....
. The show inspired him to try to write a feature film about a sports show but he was unable to structure the story for film, so instead he turned his idea into a TV comedy series. Sports Night
Sports Night

Sports Night is an United States television series about a fictional sports news show and the people who work there. It focuses on the friendships, pitfalls, and ethical issues they face while trying to produce a good show under constant network pressure....
was produced by Disney
The Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company is the largest media and entertainment corporation in the world. Founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy O....
 and debuted on the Disney-owned ABC network
American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an United States television network. Created in 1943 from the former National Broadcasting Company Blue Network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group....
 in the fall of 1998.

Sorkin fought with the ABC network during the first season over the use of a laugh track
Laugh track

A laugh track, laughter soundtrack, laughter track, LFN , canned laughter or a laughing audience is a separate soundtrack invented by Charles Douglass, with the artificial sound of audience laughter, made to be inserted into television comedy shows and sitcoms....
 and a live studio audience. The laugh track was widely decried by critics as jarring, with Joyce Millman
Joyce Millman

Joyce Millman is a television critic and writer on popular culture. Her work has been published in the New York Times and the San Francisco Examiner. She was one of the founders of the online magazine Salon ....
 of Salon.com describing it as "the most unconvincing laugh track you've ever heard". Sorkin commented that: "Once you do shoot in front of a live audience, you have no choice but to use the laugh track. Oftentimes [enhancing the laughs] is the right thing to do. Sometimes you do need a cymbal crash. Other times, it alienates me." The laugh track was gradually dialed down and was gone by the end of the first season. Sorkin was triumphant in the second season when ABC agreed to his demands, unburdening the crew
Television crew

Television crew positions are derived from those of film crew, but with several differences....
 of the difficulties of staging a scene for a live audience and leaving the cast with more time to rehearse.

Although
Sports Night was critically acclaimed, ABC canceled the show after two seasons due to its low ratings
Nielsen Ratings

Nielsen Ratings are audience measurement developed by the AC Nielsen Company, to determine the audience size and composition of broadcast programming....
. Sorkin entertained offers to continue the show on other television channels but declined all the offers as they were mainly contingent on his involvement which would have been a difficult prospect given that he was simultaneously writing
The West Wing at that point.

The West Wing

Sorkin conceived the political TV drama The West Wing in 1997 when he went unprepared to a lunch with producer John Wells
John Wells (TV producer)

John Marcum Wells is a theater and television producer and writer. He was born in Alexandria, Virginia, Virginia. He graduated from the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama in 1979....
 and in a panic pitched to Wells a show centered around the senior staff of the White House, using leftover ideas from his script for
The American President. He told Wells about his visits to the White House while doing research for The American President, and they found themselves discussing public service
Civil service

The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* Branch of governmental service in which individuals are hired on the basis of merit which is proven by the use of competitive examinations....
 and the passion of the people who serve. Wells took the concept and pitched it to the NBC network, but was told to wait because the facts behind the Lewinsky scandal
Lewinsky scandal

The Lewinsky scandal was a political scandal sex scandal emerging from a sexual relationship between President of the United States of America Bill Clinton and a 22-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky....
 were breaking and there was concern that an audience would not be able to take a show about the White House seriously. When a year later some other networks started showing interest in
The West Wing, NBC decided to greenlight
Greenlight

To greenlight a project is to give permission or a go ahead to move forward with a project. In the context of the Film industry and Television programs#Development businesses, to greenlight something is to formally approve its Film production finance, thereby allowing the project to move forward from the development to pre-production and pri...
 the series despite their previous reluctance. The pilot
Television pilot

A television pilot is a test episode of an intended television series. It is an early step in the development of a television series, much like pilot lights or pilot serve as precursors to the start of larger activity, or pilot holes prepare the way for larger holes....
 debuted in the fall of 1999 and was produced by Warner Bros. TV
Warner Bros. Television

Warner Bros. Television is the television production company and distribution arm of Warner Bros., itself part of Time Warner. Alongside CBS Paramount Television, it serves as a television production company arm of The CW Television Network , though it also produces shows for other networks, such as Chuck on NBC, Pushing Daisies on ABC, and...
.

The West Wing was honored with 9 Emmy Award
Emmy Award

The Emmy Award, also known as the 'Emmy', is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards....
s for its debut season, making the show a record holder for most Emmys won by a series in a single season. Following the awards ceremony, a fiasco ensued, centered around the Emmy for writing
The West Wing episode "In Excelsis Deo
In Excelsis Deo

"In Excelsis Deo" is the 10th episode of the first season of The West Wing . It originally aired on NBC December 15, 1999, as the show's Christmas in the media#United_States....
" which was awarded to Sorkin and Rick Cleveland
Rick Cleveland

Rick Cleveland is an United States television writer, playwright and monologist, best known for writing on the HBO original series, Six Feet Under and NBC's The West Wing ....
, when it was reported in a
New York Times article that Cleveland had been ushered off the stage by Sorkin without being given a chance to say a few words. The story behind The West Wing episode is based on Cleveland's father, a Korean war veteran who spent the last years of his life on the street, as Cleveland explains in his FreshYarn.com essay titled "I Was the Dumb Looking Guy with the Wire-Rimmed Glasses". A back and forth took place between Sorkin and Cleveland in a public web forum at Mighty Big TV where Sorkin explained that he gives his writers "Story By" credit on a rotating basis "by way of a gratuity" and that he had thrown out Cleveland's script and started from scratch. In the end, Sorkin apologized to Cleveland, admitting he had been "dead wrong".

In 2001, after wrapping up the second season of
The West Wing, Sorkin had a drug relapse, only two months after receiving a Phoenix Rising Award for drug recovery; this became public knowledge when he was arrested at Burbank Airport for possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms, marijuana, and crack cocaine. He was ordered by a judge to attend a drug diversion program. His drug addiction was highly publicized, most notably when Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live is a weekly late-night 90-minute American sketch comedy/variety show filmed in New York City. It made its debut on October 11, 1975....
did a parody called "The West Wing", though he did recover.

In 2002, Sorkin assailed NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw's
Tom Brokaw

Thomas John "Tom" Brokaw is an American television journalist and author. Brokaw is best known as the former anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News....
 TV special about a day in the life of a president, "The Bush White House: Inside the Real West Wing," comparing it to the act of sending a valentine to President George W. Bush instead of real news reporting. Sorkin's TV series
The West Wing aired on the same network, and so at the request of NBC's Entertainment President Jeff Zucker
Jeff Zucker

Jeffrey Zucker is an United States television executive, and President & CEO of NBC Universal. He is a 5-time Emmy Award winner known for his aggressive promotion of his network's programs....
 he apologized, but would later say "there should be a difference between what NBC News
NBC News

NBC News is the news division of United States television network NBC, a part of NBC Universal, which is majority-owned by General Electric. Its current president is Steve Capus....
 does and what
The West Wing TV series does."

Sorkin wrote 87 teleplays in all, which amounts to nearly every episode during the show's first four Emmy-winning seasons. Sorkin describes his role in the creative process as "not so much [that of] a showrunner
Show runner

Show runner , is a term used in the television in the United States industry referring to the person who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of a television series, in other words, the person who "runs" the show....
 or a producer. I'm really a writer." He admits that this approach can have its drawbacks, saying "Out of 88 [West Wing] episodes that I did we were on time and on budget never, not once." In 2003, at the end of the fourth season, Sorkin and fellow executive producer Thomas Schlamme
Thomas Schlamme

Thomas Schlamme is an American television director.Schlamme moved from his native Houston to New York in 1973. After serving in several low level positions for production companies, he founded his own company, Schlamme Productions, in 1980....
 left the show due to internal conflicts at Warner Bros. TV not involving the NBC network, thrusting producer John Wells into an expanded role as showrunner. He would later return in the final episode
Tomorrow (The West Wing)

"Tomorrow" is episode 154 of The West Wing . It is the series finale....
 in a cameo appearance
Cameo appearance

A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television....
 as a member of President Bartlet's staff.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

In 2003 Sorkin divulged to the American television interviewer Charlie Rose
Charlie Rose

Charlie Rose is an American television interviewer and journalist.Since 1991, he has hosted Butterfield, an interview Television show produced by the New York metropolitan area public broadcasting#Television television station WNET....
 on
The Charlie Rose Show
Charlie Rose (talk show)

Charlie Rose is an American television interview show, with Charlie Rose as executive producer, executive editor, and host. The show is syndicated on Public Broadcasting Service....
that he was developing a TV series based on a late night sketch comedy show like Saturday Night Live. In early October 2005 a pilot script dubbed Studio 7 on the Sunset Strip for a new TV series, written by him and produced by Thomas Schlamme, started circulating around Hollywood and generating interest on the web. A week later, NBC bought from Warner Bros. TV
Warner Bros. Television

Warner Bros. Television is the television production company and distribution arm of Warner Bros., itself part of Time Warner. Alongside CBS Paramount Television, it serves as a television production company arm of The CW Television Network , though it also produces shows for other networks, such as Chuck on NBC, Pushing Daisies on ABC, and...
 the right to show the TV series on their network for a near record license fee in a bidding war with CBS. The show's name was later changed to
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is an American dramedy television television program created and written by Aaron Sorkin. It takes place behind the scenes of a fictional live sketch comedy show on the fictional television network NBS , whose format is similar to NBC's Saturday Night Live....
. Sorkin described the show as having "autobiographical elements" to it and "characters that are based on actual people" but said that it departs from those beginnings to look at the backstage maneuverings at a late night sketch comedy
Sketch comedy

Sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comedic actors, either on stage or through an audio or/and visual medium such as broadcasting....
 show.

In September 2006, the pilot for
Studio 60 aired on NBC, directed by Thomas Schlamme. The pilot was critically acclaimed and had high ratings
Nielsen Ratings

Nielsen Ratings are audience measurement developed by the AC Nielsen Company, to determine the audience size and composition of broadcast programming....
, but
Studio 60 experienced a significant drop in audience by mid-season. The seething anticipation that preceded the debut was followed up by a large amount of thoughtful and scrupulous criticism in the press, as well as largely negative and feverish analysis in the blogosphere
Blogosphere

Blogosphere is a collective term encompassing all blogs and their interconnections. It is the perception that blogs exist together as a connected community or as a social network....
. In January 2007 Sorkin spoke out against the press for focusing too heavily on the ratings slide and for using blogs and unemployed comedy writers as sources. After many months on hiatus,
Studio 60 resumed but only to air the last episodes of season one which would be its last season.

Back to writing for film

In 2003, Sorkin was writing a screenplay on spec
Screenplay

A screenplay or script is a written work especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing works....
 about the story of Philo Farnsworth
Philo Farnsworth

Philo Taylor Farnsworth was an United States inventor. He is best known for inventing the first completely electronic television. In particular, he was the first to make a working electronic image pickup device , and the first to demonstrate an all-electronic television system to the public....
, a topic he had first become familiar with back in the early 1990s when producer Fred Zollo had approached him with the idea of adapting a memoir by Elma Farnsworth into a biopic. The next year he completed the screenplay under the title "The Farnsworth Invention", and it was picked up by New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema

New Line Cinema, founded in 1967, is major film studios United States film studios. Though it initially began as an independent film studio, it became a subsidiary of Time Warner and is now a division of Warner Bros....
 with Thomas Schlamme
Thomas Schlamme

Thomas Schlamme is an American television director.Schlamme moved from his native Houston to New York in 1973. After serving in several low level positions for production companies, he founded his own company, Schlamme Productions, in 1980....
 signed on to direct. The story is about the patent battle between inventor Philo Farnsworth and RCA tycoon David Sarnoff
David Sarnoff

David Sarnoff was a Belarusian-born Russian-American businessman and pioneer of American commercial radio broadcasting and television. He founded the National Broadcasting Company and throughout most of his career he led the Radio Corporation of America in various capacities from shortly after its founding in 1919 until his retirement in 1...
 for the technology that allowed the first television transmissions. However, Sorkin shortly reconsidered "The Farnsworth Invention" as a film and rewrote it as the play
The Farnsworth Invention
The Farnsworth Invention

The Farnsworth Invention is a stage play by Aaron Sorkin adapted from a screenplay for a film that was never produced.As a screenplay...
; the film did not go into production.

Sorkin's next jaunt back into film occurred when he was commissioned by Universal Pictures
Universal Studios

Universal Studios , a subsidiary of NBC Universal, is one of the six Worldwide major American film studios. Its production studios are located at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California....
 to adapt "60 Minutes" producer George Crile's
George Crile III

George Crile III was an United States journalist most closely associated with his three decades of work at CBS News....
 nonfiction book
Charlie Wilson's War
Charlie Wilson's War

Charlie Wilson's War is a 2007 in film biographical film drama film based on the true story of Democratic Party Texas Congressman Charles Wilson , who conspired with "bare knuckle attitude" Central Intelligence Agency operative Gust Avrakotos to launch Operation Cyclone, which initiated and organized the Demographics of Afghanistan Mujah...
for Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks

Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American film actor, film director, voice-over artist, writer and film producer. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies before achieving success as a dramatic actor portraying several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia , the title role in Forrest Gump, Commander J...
' production company Playtone
Playtone

The Playtone Company is an United States film and television production company and record label established by actor Tom Hanks and producer Gary Goetzman....
.
Charlie Wilson's War is about the colorful Texas congressman Charlie Wilson
Charles Wilson (politician)

Charles Nesbitt Wilson , is a former United States naval officer and former Democratic Party United States United States Congress from the Texas's 2nd congressional district in Texas....
 who funded the CIA's secret war against the former Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Sorkin completed the screenplay and the film was released in 2007 starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, directed by Mike Nichols.

On July 12, 2007,
Variety reported that Sorkin had signed a deal with Dreamworks to write three scripts. The first script is titled The Trial of the Chicago 7, which Sorkin was already developing with Steven Spielberg and producers Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald
Laurie MacDonald

Laurie MacDonald is a film producer. She is marriage to Walter F. Parkes and is a production executive of DreamWorks SKG. Her credits include:...
. In August 2008, Sorkin announced that he had agreed to write a script about how Facebook was invented
Facebook

Facebook is a free-access social network service website that is operated and privately held company by Facebook, Inc. Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people....
 for Sony and producer Scott Rudin
Scott Rudin

Scott Rudin is an Academy Award-winning United States film film producer and a Tony Award-winning theatre theatrical producer.Rudin lives in New York City with his longtime boyfriend John Barlow, a Broadway theatre publicist and founding partner of Barlow/Hartman Public Relations....
.

Returning to the theatre


After more than 15 years away from the theatre, Sorkin found himself easing his way back into playwrighting in 2005 when he took to revising his play
A Few Good Men
A Few Good Men

A Few Good Men is a play by Aaron Sorkin, first produced on Broadway theater by David Brown in 1989. Sorkin adapted his work into a screenplay for a A Few Good Men directed by Rob Reiner, produced by Brown and starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, and Demi Moore....
for a revival at the London West End theatre
West End theatre

West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's "Theatreland". Along with New York City's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English language world....
, the Haymarket
Haymarket Theatre

The Theatre Royal Haymarket or Haymarket Theatre or the Little Theatre is a West End theatre in The Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use....
. It had been a while since he had originally written the play and so he gave it a polish. The play opened at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in the fall of the same year and was directed by David Esbjornson
David Esbjornson

David Esbjornson is an award-winning director and producer who has worked throughout the United States in Regional theatre in the United States and on Broadway theatre, and has established strong and productive relationships with some of the profession?s top playwrights, actors, and companies....
, with Rob Lowe
Rob Lowe

Robert Hepler Lowe is an United States actor. He became famous after appearing in popular 1980s movies such as The Outsiders and St. Elmo's Fire , which included other members of the Brat Pack ....
 of
The West Wing in the lead role.

Yet Sorkin had begun thinking about writing a fresh new play back in 2003 when he was contacted by Jocelyn Clarke, the commissions manager of the Abbey Theatre
Abbey Theatre

The Abbey Theatre , also known as the National Theatre of Ireland , is a theatre located in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. The Abbey first opened its doors to the public on 27 December 1904, and despite losing its original building to a fire in 1951, has remained active to the present day....
 in Dublin
Dublin

Dublin is both the largest city and capital of Republic of Ireland. It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin Region....
, requesting he write a play for them, a commission which he accepted. In time Sorkin decided to tackle his commission by rewriting "The Farnsworth Invention" as a play. He delivered a first draft of the play to the Abbey Theatre in early 2005, and a production was purportedly planned for 2007 with La Jolla Playhouse
La Jolla Playhouse

La Jolla Playhouse is a not-for-profit, professional theatre-in-residence on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. ...
 in California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
 deciding to stage a workshop production of the play in collaboration with the Abbey Theatre. But in 2006 the Abbey Theatre's new management pulled out of all involvement with
The Farnsworth Invention
The Farnsworth Invention

The Farnsworth Invention is a stage play by Aaron Sorkin adapted from a screenplay for a film that was never produced.As a screenplay...
. Despite the setback, La Jolla Playhouse pushed on, with Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg

Steven Allan Spielberg, KBE is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. Forbes magazine places Spielberg's net worth at $3.1 billion....
 lending his talents as producer. The production opened under La Jolla's signature Page To Stage
La Jolla Playhouse

La Jolla Playhouse is a not-for-profit, professional theatre-in-residence on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. ...
 program which allowed Sorkin and director Des McAnuff to develop the play from show to show according to audience reactions and feedback; the play ran at La Jolla Playhouse from February 20, 2007 through March 25, 2007. A production followed on Broadway, beginning in preview
PREview

PREview is a requirements methodology which focuses on the early stage of Requirements analysis: discovering and documenting requirements. PREview uses a Viewpoint-Oriented Approach to enable the conversion of top-level goals into requirements and constraints [1]....
s at the Music Box Theatre
Music Box Theatre

The Music Box Theater is a legitimate Broadway theatre theatre located at 239 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan.The once most aptly named theater on Broadway, the intimate Music Box was designed by architect C....
 and scheduled to open on November 14, 2007, however, the play was delayed by the 2007 Broadway stagehand strike
2007 Broadway stagehand strike

2007 Broadway Stagehands Strike was a strike action by stagehands represented by Theatrical Protective Union Number One of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees against the Shubert, Jujamcyn, and Nederlander theaters ....
.
The Farnsworth Invention eventually opened at the Music Box Theatre on December 3, 2007 following the end of the strike; it closed on March 2, 2008.

Sorkin has continued in his renewed capacity as a playwright, attaching himself to several projects. In March 2007, it was reported that Sorkin had signed on to write a musical adaptation of the hit 2002 record
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is the tenth album by The Flaming Lips, released on July 16, 2002. It is characterized by Electronic music influenced, Psychedelic rock-tinged alternative rock compositions....
by psychedelic-rock band The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips

The Flaming Lips is an United States Rock music band.The band is known for their lush, multi-layered, psychedelic rock arrangements, space rock lyrics and bizarre song and album titles ....
, collaborating with director Des McAnuff
Des McAnuff

Desmond McAnuff is an Canadian-American director of musical theatre of such Broadway productions as Big River and Tommy . He has also produced Tony award-winning revivals of the Broadway classics, Guys and Dolls, The Music Man, Into the Woods, 42nd Street , The King and I....
 who has been developing the project. In August 2008 Des McAnuff announced that Sorkin had been commissioned by the Stratford Shakespeare Festival to create a new play for a future season, a translation of Chekhov's
Anton Chekhov

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian Short story writer, playwright and physician, considered to be one of the greatest short-story writers in world literature....
 The Cherry Orchard
The Cherry Orchard

The Cherry Orchard is Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's last Play . It premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre 17 January 1904 in a production directed by Constantin Stanislavski....
.

Writing process and style


Sorkin has written for the theatre, film and television, and in each medium his level of collaboration with other creators has varied. He began in theatre which involved a largely solitary writing process, then moved into film where he collaborated with director Rob Reiner and screenwriter William Goldman, and eventually worked in television where he collaborated very closely with director Thomas Schlamme for nearly a decade on the shows
Sports Night, The West Wing, and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip; he now moves between all three media. He has a habit of chainsmoking while he spends countless hours cooped up in his office plotting out his next scripts. He describes his writing process as physical because he will often stand up and speak the dialogue he is developing.

A
New York Times article by Peter De Jonge explained that "The West Wing is never plotted out for more than a few weeks ahead and has no major story lines", which De Jonge believed was because "with characters who have no flaws, it is impossible to give them significant arcs". Sorkin has stated: "I seldom plan ahead, not because I don’t think it’s good to plan ahead, there just isn’t time." Sorkin has also said, "As a writer, I don't like to answer questions until the very moment that I have to." The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is one of two daily newspapers in Seattle, Washington, United States, the other being the The Seattle Times....
's TV critic John Levesque has commented that Sorkin's writing process "can make for ill-advised plot developments". Further complicating the matter, in television, Sorkin will have a hand in writing every episode, rarely letting other writers earn full credit on a script. Peter De Jonge has reported that ex-writers of The West Wing have claimed that "even by the spotlight-hogging standards of Hollywood, Sorkin has been exceptionally ungenerous in his sharing of writing credit". In a comment to GQ
GQ (magazine)

GQ is a monthly men's magazine focusing upon fashion, style, and culture for men, through articles on food, films, physical fitness, Human sexual behavior, music, travel, sports, Consumer electronics, and books....
magazine in 2008, Sorkin said, "I’m helped by a staff of people who have great ideas, but the scripts aren’t written by committee."

Sorkin's nearly decade-long collaboration in television with director Thomas Schlamme
Thomas Schlamme

Thomas Schlamme is an American television director.Schlamme moved from his native Houston to New York in 1973. After serving in several low level positions for production companies, he founded his own company, Schlamme Productions, in 1980....
 began in early 1998 when they found they shared common creative ground on the soon to be produced
Sports Night. Their successful partnership in television is one in which Sorkin focuses on writing the scripts while Schlamme executive produces
Executive producer

The title of executive producer , or executive in charge of production, typically describes a film producer, television producer, radio producer, record producer, or similar Stakeholder who doesn't participate in the technical operations of the production process, but who is still responsible for the success of a project....
 and occasionally directs; they have worked together on
Sports Night, The West Wing, and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Schlamme will create the look of the shows, work with the other directors, discuss the scripts with Sorkin as soon as they are turned in, make design and casting decisions, and attend the budget meetings; Sorkin tends to stick strictly to writing.

One of Schlamme's trademarks is
The West Wing's style of continuously tracking in front of characters as they walk side by side while talking at the same time, usually while on their way to a meeting or conference directly related to the substance of the discussion, a visual technique called the "Walk and Talk
Walk and talk

Walk and Talk - sometimes referred to as pedeconferencing - is a distinctive storytelling-technique used in film and television in which a number of characters have a conversation en route....
". Schlamme did not want to have scene cuts that relocated characters without any explanation of how they got there so he developed the "Walk and Talk" device to work with Sorkin's dialogue.

Sorkin is known for writing memorable lines and fast-paced dialogue, such as the "You can't handle the truth!" piece from
A Few Good Men
A Few Good Men

A Few Good Men is a play by Aaron Sorkin, first produced on Broadway theater by David Brown in 1989. Sorkin adapted his work into a screenplay for a A Few Good Men directed by Rob Reiner, produced by Brown and starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, and Demi Moore....
and the partly Latin tirade against God in The West Wing episode "Two Cathedrals
Two Cathedrals

"Two Cathedrals" is the 44th episode, and second season finale of The West Wing .SynopsisJosiah Bartlet is beset by memories of Mrs....
". In television, Sorkin's stylemark is the repartee that his characters engage in as they small talk and banter about whimsical events taking place within an episode, and interject obscure popular culture references into conversation.

Although his scripts are lauded for being literate, Sorkin has been criticized for often turning in scripts that are overwrought. His mentor William Goldman
William Goldman

William Goldman is an United Statesn novelist, playwright and two-time Academy Awards-winning screenwriter. He lives in New York City....
 has commented that normally in visual media speeches are avoided, but that Sorkin has a talent for dialogue and gets away with breaking this rule.

McFarland & Company
McFarland & Company

McFarland & Company is a United States publishing company located in Jefferson, North Carolina. Its majority owner and editor-in-chief is Robert Franklin , who began the enterprise in 1979....
 has published a collection of essays of criticism of Sorkin's works by various writers titled
Considering Aaron Sorkin: Essays on the Politics, Poetics and Sleight of Hand in the Films and Television Series and a book of criticism of The West Wing by Melissa Crawley titled Mr. Sorkin Goes to Washington: Shaping the President on Television's the West Wing. A collection of essays about The West Wing has been published by Syracuse University Press
Syracuse University Press

Syracuse University Press, founded in 1943, is a university press that is part of Syracuse University. The areas of focus for the Press include Middle East Studies, Native American Studies, Peace and Conflict Resolution, Irish Studies and Jewish Studies, among others....
 as a book titled
The West Wing: The American Presidency as Television Drama.

Personal life


From 1996–2005, he was married to Julia Bingham. They have one daughter, Roxy, born in 2000. He has dated Kristin Chenoweth
Kristin Chenoweth

Kristin Chenoweth is an American singer and musical theater, film, and television actress. Some of her best-known roles have included Glinda in Broadway theatre's Wicked and Annabeth Schott in television's The West Wing....
, the actress who played Annabeth Schott
Annabeth Schott

Annabeth Schott, played by Kristin Chenoweth, is a fictional character on the political drama The West Wing . She joined the Bartlet administration in Season 6 as the Deputy Press Secretary for Media Relations following the promotion of C.J....
 on
The West Wing, and has reportedly dated Maureen Dowd
Maureen Dowd

Maureen Dowd is a Washington D.C.-based columnist for The New York Times. She has worked for the Times since 1983, when she joined as a metropolitan reporter....
.

A consistent supporter of the Democratic Party, Sorkin has made substantial political campaign contributions to Democratic candidates between 1999 and 2007, according to CampaignMoney.com. During the 2004 US presidential election
United States presidential election, 2004

The United States presidential election of 2004 was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004, to elect the President of the United States. It was the 55th consecutive quadrennial election for President and Vice President of the United States....
 campaign, the liberal advocacy group MoveOn
MoveOn

MoveOn is an American non-profit progressive, Modern liberalism in the United States public policy interest group and political action committee which has raised millions of dollars for candidates of the Democratic Party in the United States....
's political action committee
Political action committee

In the United States , a Political Action Committee, or PAC, is the name commonly given to a private group, regardless of size, organized to elect political candidates....
 enlisted Sorkin and Rob Reiner to create one of their anti-Bush campaign advertisements
Campaign advertising

In politics, campaign advertising is the use of paid media to influence the decisions made for and by groups. These ads are designed by political consulting and the political campaign staff....
. In August 2008, Sorkin was involved in a Generation Obama event at the Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills, California

Beverly Hills is a city in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, California, United States. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood, California are together entirely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, California....
, participating in a panel discussion subsequent to a screening of Frank Capra
Frank Capra

'Frank Russell Capra' was an Italian-American film director and a major creative force behind a number of highly popular films of the 1930s and 1940s, including It's a Wonderful Life and Mr....
's
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is an Cinema of the United States comedy film/drama film starring James Stewart and Jean Arthur, about one man's effect on Politics of the United States....
.

In 1987, Sorkin started experimenting with marijuana and cocaine. He has said that in freebase cocaine
Cocaine

Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine....
 he found a drug that gave him relief from certain nervous tensions he deals with on a regular basis. In 1995, he checked into rehab at the Hazelden Institute in Minnesota, on the advice of his then girlfriend and soon to be wife Julia Bingham, to try and beat his addiction to cocaine. In 2001, Sorkin along with colleagues John Spencer
John Spencer (actor)

John Spencer was an Emmy Award- and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning American actor best known for his role as Leo McGarry, the White House Chief of Staff on the NBC political drama The West Wing....
 and Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen

Martin Sheen is an American actor who earned recognition for his performances as Captain Willard in the film Apocalypse Now and President of the United States Josiah Bartlet on the NBC political drama series The West Wing....
 received the Phoenix Rising Award for their personal victories over substance abuse. However, two months later on April 15, 2001, Sorkin was arrested when guards at a security checkpoint at the Burbank Airport found hallucinogenic mushrooms, marijuana
Cannabis (drug)

Cannabis, also known as Marijuana or marihuana, or ganja , is a psychoactive drug extracted from the plant Cannabis sativa, or more often, Cannabis sativa subsp....
, and crack cocaine
Crack cocaine

Crack cocaine, crack or rock is a solid, smokable form of cocaine. It is a freebase form of cocaine that can be made using baking soda or sodium hydroxide, in a process to convert cocaine hydrochloride into methylbenzoylecgonine ....
 in his carry-on bag when a metal crack pipe
Cocaine

Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine....
 set off the gate’s metal detector. He was ordered to a drug diversion program.
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live is a weekly late-night 90-minute American sketch comedy/variety show filmed in New York City. It made its debut on October 11, 1975....
parodied the highly publicized event in a comedy sketch called "The West Wing" where the U.S. President played by Darrell Hammond
Darrell Hammond

Darrell Augustus Hammond is an United States comedian. He has been a regular on Saturday Night Live since 1995, and currently holds the record for longest tenure as an SNL cast member, having earned the title in 2004-2005....
 does a "Walk and Talk" through the corridors of the White House while tripping on mushrooms, accompanied by host Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brosnan

Pierce Brendan Brosnan, Order of the British Empire is an Republic of Ireland actor, film producer and environmentalist, who holds both Ireland and United States citizenship....
.

Sorkin continued working on
The West Wing, and his workaholic habits and drug-taking were both reported to have contributed to the break-down of his marriage, which ended in divorce. There have been no public reports of any further drug use.

Credits


Television series

  • Sports Night
    Sports Night

    Sports Night is an United States television series about a fictional sports news show and the people who work there. It focuses on the friendships, pitfalls, and ethical issues they face while trying to produce a good show under constant network pressure....
    (television series, 1998–2000; creator, writer, executive producer)
  • The West Wing
    The West Wing (TV series)

    The West Wing is an American television serial drama created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast from 1999 to 2006. It was produced/written by Sorkin and also produced by Thomas Schlamme....
    (television series, 1999–2006; creator, writer, executive producer (1999–2003))
  • Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
    Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

    Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is an American dramedy television television program created and written by Aaron Sorkin. It takes place behind the scenes of a fictional live sketch comedy show on the fictional television network NBS , whose format is similar to NBC's Saturday Night Live....
    (television series, 2006–2007; creator, writer, executive producer)


Films

  • A Few Good Men
    A Few Good Men

    A Few Good Men is a play by Aaron Sorkin, first produced on Broadway theater by David Brown in 1989. Sorkin adapted his work into a screenplay for a A Few Good Men directed by Rob Reiner, produced by Brown and starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, and Demi Moore....
    (1992; screenplay)
  • Malice
    Malice (film)

    Malice is a 1993 in film Cinema of the United States thriller film directed by Harold Becker. The screenplay by Aaron Sorkin and Scott Frank is based on a story by Jonas McCord....
    (1993; screenplay, co-written with Scott Frank
    Scott Frank

    Scott Frank is an United States screenwriter known for his work as both a writer of original works: Dead Again, Little Man Tate and The Lookout as well as adaptations of novels by authors whose strong voices and writing styles pose an additional challenge to screenwriters....
    )
  • Schindler's List
    Schindler's List

    Schindler's List is an Cinema of the United States biographical film about Oskar Schindler, a Germany businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand Poland Jews during the The Holocaust by employing them in his factories....
    (1993; uncredited script doctor)
  • The American President
    The American President (film)

    The American President is a 1995 in film romantic comedy film film director by Rob Reiner and written by Aaron Sorkin. It stars Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen, Richard Dreyfuss and Michael J....
    (1995; screenplay)
  • The Rock
    The Rock (film)

    The Rock is a 1996 in film Academy Awards-nominated action film that primarily takes place on Alcatraz Island, and the San Francisco Bay area....
    (1996; uncredited script doctor)
  • Excess Baggage
    Excess Baggage

    Excess Baggage is an United States comedy film from 1997 in film, directed by Marco Brambilla....
    (1997; uncredited script doctor)
  • Bulworth
    Bulworth

    Bulworth is a 1998 in film Academy Award-nominated Cinema of the United States which was co-screenwriter, co-film producer and film director by the film's star, Warren Beatty....
    (1998; uncredited script doctor)
  • Enemy of the State (1998; uncredited script doctor)
  • Charlie Wilson's War
    Charlie Wilson's War

    Charlie Wilson's War is a 2007 in film biographical film drama film based on the true story of Democratic Party Texas Congressman Charles Wilson , who conspired with "bare knuckle attitude" Central Intelligence Agency operative Gust Avrakotos to launch Operation Cyclone, which initiated and organized the Demographics of Afghanistan Mujah...
    (2007; screenplay)


Screenplays (unproduced)

  • Ocean of Storms (~1996; script doctor)
  • The Farnsworth Invention
    The Farnsworth Invention

    The Farnsworth Invention is a stage play by Aaron Sorkin adapted from a screenplay for a film that was never produced.As a screenplay...
    (2004; screenplay)
  • The Trial of the Chicago 7 (part of a three picture deal with Dreamworks; screenplay)


Plays

  • Hidden in This Picture
    Hidden in this Picture

    Hidden in This Picture is a one-act play by Emmy Award-winning playwright Aaron Sorkin. It consists of a single scene with four male characters, and the rights are controlled by Samuel French, Inc....
    (1988; playwright)
  • A Few Good Men
    A Few Good Men

    A Few Good Men is a play by Aaron Sorkin, first produced on Broadway theater by David Brown in 1989. Sorkin adapted his work into a screenplay for a A Few Good Men directed by Rob Reiner, produced by Brown and starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, and Demi Moore....
    (1989; playwright)
  • Making Movies (1990; playwright)
  • The Farnsworth Invention
    The Farnsworth Invention

    The Farnsworth Invention is a stage play by Aaron Sorkin adapted from a screenplay for a film that was never produced.As a screenplay...
    (2007, playwright)


Further information

  • Four interviews with Aaron Sorkin on The Charlie Rose Show
    Charlie Rose (talk show)

    Charlie Rose is an American television interview show, with Charlie Rose as executive producer, executive editor, and host. The show is syndicated on Public Broadcasting Service....
     (available at Google Video
    Google Video

    Google Video is a free video sharing website and also a video search engine from Google that allows anyone to upload video clips to Google's web servers as well as make their own media available free of charge; some videos are also offered for sale through the Google Video Store....
    ) for the years 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003.


Podcasts


External links

  • at Facebook
    Facebook

    Facebook is a free-access social network service website that is operated and privately held company by Facebook, Inc. Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people....