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92-580: Aaron Benjamin Sorkin (born June 9, 1961) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and film director. Born in New York City, he developed a passion for writing at an early age. As a writer for stage, television, and film, Sorkin is recognized for his trademark fast-paced dialogue and extended monologues, complemented by frequent use of the storytelling technique called the " walk and talk ". Sorkin has earned numerous accolades including an Academy Award ,

184-502: A BAFTA Award , five Primetime Emmy Awards , and three Golden Globes . Sorkin rose to prominence as a writer-creator and showrunner of the television series Sports Night (1998–2000), The West Wing (1999–2006), Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006–07), and The Newsroom (2012–14) . He is also known for his work on Broadway including the plays A Few Good Men (1989), The Farnsworth Invention (2007), To Kill

276-425: A drug relapse , and was arrested at Hollywood Burbank Airport for possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms , marijuana , and crack cocaine . He was ordered by a court to attend a drug diversion program. There was huge media interest but he did make a successful recovery. In 2002, Sorkin criticized NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw 's television special about a day in the life of a president, "The Bush White House: Inside

368-556: A Mockingbird (2018), and the revival of Lerner and Loewe 's musical Camelot (2023). He wrote the film screenplays for A Few Good Men (1992), The American President (1995), and several biopics including Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Moneyball (2011), and Steve Jobs (2015). For writing The Social Network (2010), he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay . He made his directorial film debut with Molly's Game (2017), followed by The Trial of

460-460: A Western Union operator, Lucille Lipps, to sing the message over the telephone, and this became the first singing telegram. While Oslin created the singing telegram because he thought "that messages should be fun," he recalled that he "was angrily informed I was making a laughingstock of the company." As relatively few telegram recipients had telephones, most telegrams, including singing telegrams, were first delivered in person. The popularization of

552-552: A few words. The story behind "In Excelsis Deo" is based on Cleveland's father, a Korean War veteran who spent the last years of his life on the street, as Cleveland explained in an essay titled "I Was the Dumb Looking Guy with the Wire-Rimmed Glasses". Sorkin and Cleveland continued their dispute in a public web forum at Mighty Big TV in which Sorkin explained that he gives his writers "Story By" credit on

644-484: A film director while adapting the book for the screen. In November 2010, it was reported that Sorkin will write a musical based on the life of Houdini , with music by Danny Elfman . In January 2012, Stephen Schwartz was reported to be writing the music and lyrics, with Sorkin making his debut as a librettist . The musical was expected for release in 2013–14; Sorkin said: "The chance to collaborate with Stephen Schwartz [the director], Jack O'Brien , and Hugh Jackman on

736-423: A good yarn while he does so." For me, the writing experience is very much like a date. It's not unusual that I'm really funny here and really smart here and maybe showing some anger over here so she sees maybe I have this dark side. I want it to have been worth it for everyone to sit through it for however long I ask them to. Walk and talk The technique is frequently used as a means of emphasizing how busy

828-518: A group of Marines who came close to killing a fellow Marine in a hazing ordered by a superior officer. Sorkin took that information and wrote much of his story on cocktail napkins while bartending at the Palace Theatre. He and his roommates had purchased a Macintosh 512K ; when he returned home, he would transcribe the story and notes onto the computer, forming a basis from which he wrote many drafts for A Few Good Men . In 1988, Sorkin sold

920-407: A group of people who are often looked at cynically. The same as with The West Wing , where ordinarily in popular culture our leaders are portrayed either as Machiavellian or dumb; I wanted to do something different and show a highly competent group of people." The series concluded after its third season. In 2015, Danny Boyle 's biographical drama Steve Jobs was released. The screenplay by Sorkin

1012-439: A hunting-and-fishing show, and bartending at Broadway's Palace Theatre . One weekend, while house-sitting for a friend, he found an IBM Selectric typewriter , 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 former theatre teacher, Arthur Storch, who

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1104-514: 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 had a habit of chain smoking while he spent long hours plotting out scripts in his office, though he quit smoking after having

1196-411: 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 removed by the end of the first season. Sorkin was triumphant in the second season when ABC agreed to his demands, unburdening the crew of the difficulties of staging

1288-499: A lunch with producer John Wells ; in a panic he pitched to Wells a series centered on 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 and the passion of the people who serve. Wells took the concept and pitched it to NBC , but

1380-414: A minefield of disappointment. [...] Hopefully, when I'm done with my research, I'll be in the same ball park of knowledge about Steve Jobs". He won a Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay , although some journalists were surprised that he did not receive an Academy Award nomination in the same category. In February 2016, it was announced that Sorkin would adapt Harper Lee 's To Kill a Mockingbird for

1472-527: A minute before they end up back where they started. In Late Night with Seth Meyers , the "Sorkin Sketch" parodies Sorkin's signature writing including walk and talk, where Meyers and an employee converse about the subject while walking down the hallway. Singing telegram A singing telegram is a message that is delivered by an artist in a musical form. Singing telegrams are historically linked to normal telegrams , but tend to be humorous. Sometimes

1564-416: A new Broadway musical is a huge gift." In January 2013, he quit the project, citing film and television commitments. In March 2016, it was announced that Sorkin would adapt A Few Good Men for a live production on NBC, originally slated to air in 2017; as of November 2017, "Sorkin is still mulling the project". You almost never see how anyone travels from point A to point C [in most TV shows]. I wanted

1656-404: A pickup meeting." In " Arctic Radar ", Josh's assistant Donna tries to tell him something while hurrying along behind him on his way to a meeting; he reaches the door and tells her "You've gotta go faster next time. I'm here already." The technique was further referenced in the fifth-season episode " Talking Points ", in which Josh and Donna have a "walk-and-not-talk;" Donna is upset with Josh, and

1748-426: A police officer 'arresting' somebody, a lawyer pretending to serve papers, a jilted bride and so on (sometimes this charade will be relevant to something the intended 'victim' has experienced, such as a divorce, or brush with the law). Usually a Strip-o-gram entertainer is accompanied by a chaperone, who plays her music, holds on to the money, tips and secures her safety, unlike an escort, who comes alone and does more of

1840-490: A production at London's West End . The play opened at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in the fall of the same year and was directed by David Esbjornson , with Rob Lowe of The West Wing in the lead role. Sorkin told The Charlie Rose Show that he was developing a television series based on a late-night sketch comedy show similar to Saturday Night Live . In October 2005, a pilot script dubbed Studio 7 on

1932-510: A production. Examples of this can be seen in both film (the opening conversation between Mal and Simon in Serenity ) and television (the similar conversation between Sinclair and Lyta in the pilot episode of Babylon 5 , " The Gathering "). This use of the technique is regularly seen in opening scenes in the UK series Hollyoaks as a way of recapping current story lines and showing how

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2024-507: A revised book for the Broadway revival of the Lerner and Loewe musical Camelot starring Phillipa Soo and Andrew Burnap . The production was set to begin at Lincoln Center 's Vivian Beaumont Theater on November 3, 2022, but was moved back to April 13, 2023. In March 2007, it was reported that Sorkin had signed on to write a musical adaptation of the hit 2002 record Yoshimi Battles

2116-461: A rotating basis "by way of a gratuity" and that he had thrown out Cleveland's script and started from scratch. Sorkin eventually apologized to Cleveland. Cleveland and Sorkin also won the Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Episodic Drama at the 53rd Writer Guild of America Awards for "In Excelsis Deo". In 2001, after completing the second season of The West Wing , Sorkin had

2208-434: 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 low ratings . Sorkin entertained offers to continue the show on other television channels, but declined all the offers because they were dependent on his involvement and he was already working on The West Wing . Stockard Channing had done an episode of

2300-490: A screenplay. The film, directed by Reiner, starred Tom Cruise , Jack Nicholson , Demi Moore and Kevin Bacon , and was produced by Brown. A Few Good Men was released in 1992 and was a box office success, grossing $ 243 million worldwide. Goldman also approached Sorkin with a story premise, which Sorkin developed into the script for the thriller Malice . Goldman oversaw the project as creative consultant while Sorkin wrote

2392-408: A script for Sony Pictures and producer Scott Rudin about the beginnings of Facebook . David Fincher 's The Social Network , based on Ben Mezrich 's non fiction book The Accidental Billionaires , was released on October 1, 2010. It was a critical and commercial success; Sorkin won an Academy Award , BAFTA and a Golden Globe for the screenplay. A year later, Sorkin received nominations in

2484-563: A stroke in 2022. 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

2576-505: A television comedy series. Sports Night was produced by Disney and debuted on the ABC network in fall of 1998. Sorkin fought with ABC during the first season over the use of a laugh track and a live studio audience . The laugh track was widely decried by critics as jarring, with Joyce Millman of Salon magazine describing it as "the most unconvincing laugh track you've ever heard". Sorkin commented that: "Once you do shoot in front of

2668-523: A workshop production of the play in collaboration with the Abbey Theatre. In 2006, Abbey Theatre's new management quit involvement with The Farnsworth Invention . Despite this, La Jolla Playhouse carried on with Steven Spielberg serving as a producer. The production opened under La Jolla's signature Page To Stage program which allowed Sorkin and director Des McAnuff to develop the play from show-to-show according to audience reactions and feedback;

2760-475: A writer, I don't like to answer questions until the very moment that I have to." The Seattle Post-Intelligencer '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. De Jonge reported that ex-writers of The West Wing have claimed that "even by

2852-486: Is a message delivered along with a kiss , usually arranged as a humorous surprise. The message deliverers are typically young women who are dressed in provocative clothing. The term "kissogram" was used in the TV program Doctor Who during the early 2010s to describe the profession of The Doctor's companion Amy Pond , who appears in a sexy kissogram version of a police officer's uniform. A stripogram or strippergram

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2944-454: Is a form of message delivery in which a stripper will perform a striptease while singing or dancing. This type of entertainment became popular in the 1970s in the US and spread to Europe during the 1980s. By the 1990s corporate strip-o-gram work, in which a stripper performs for clients in their workplace, was making up a significant part of the striptease business for novelty telegram services in

3036-619: Is about the colorful Texas congressman Charlie Wilson who funded the CIA 's secret war against the former Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Directed by Mike Nichols , and written by Sorkin, the film was released in 2007 and starred Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman . The film earned five nominations at the Golden Globes, including Best Screenplay for Sorkin. In August 2008, Sorkin announced that he had agreed to write

3128-461: Is nearly every episode during the show's first four Emmy-winning seasons. Sorkin described his role in the creative process as "not so much [that of] a showrunner or a producer. I'm really a writer." He admitted 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 left

3220-452: The CSI franchise has used it frequently. It has been used as a prominent story-enhancer in numerous episodes of The West Wing , The Bill , House , Ugly Betty , ER and Grey's Anatomy . The Walk and Talk technique is also often used as a way of combining exposition with a visual introduction to major areas (and their locations in relation to one another) that will be used in

3312-482: The West Wing first-season episode " Five Votes Down ", where Josh and Sam talk while meandering around the office before Sam asks, "Where are you going?" each man then claims to have been following the other. This is repeated in the episode " Mandatory Minimums " when Sam and Toby are walking to breakfast and pass the restaurant by an entire block because they were "having a nice conversation". Another reference to

3404-574: The riots at the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention and the trial that followed ". However, after meeting at Spielberg's home, Sorkin said, "I left not knowing what the hell he was talking about." On July 12, 2007, Variety magazine reported that Sorkin had signed a deal with DreamWorks to write three scripts. The first was The Trial of the Chicago 7 , which Sorkin was already developing with Spielberg, Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald . In March 2010, Sorkin's agent, Ari Emanuel , had stated that

3496-627: The Chicago 7 (2020) and Being the Ricardos (2021). Sorkin was born in Manhattan , New York City, to a Jewish family, and was raised in the New York suburb of Scarsdale . His mother was a schoolteacher and his father a copyright lawyer who had fought in WWII and went to college on the G.I. Bill ; both his older sister and brother went on to become lawyers. His paternal grandfather was one of

3588-625: The Pink Robots by psychedelic-rock band The Flaming Lips , collaborating with director Des McAnuff who had been developing the project. In August 2008, McAnuff announced that Sorkin had been commissioned by the Stratford Shakespeare Festival to write an adaptation of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard . In 2010, Sorkin reportedly obtained the film rights to Andrew Young's book The Politician (about Senator John Edwards ), and announced that he would make his debut as

3680-497: The Real West Wing", comparing it to the act of sending a valentine to President George W. Bush instead of real news reporting. The West Wing aired on the same network, and so at the request of NBC's Entertainment President Jeff Zucker , Sorkin apologized, but later said, "there should be a difference between what NBC News does and what The West Wing TV series does." Sorkin wrote 87 screenplays for The West Wing , which

3772-415: The Ricardos (2021), it was directed by Sorkin and received a limited theatrical release on December 10, 2021, before streaming on Prime Video on December 21. Paul Byrnes of The Sydney Morning Herald praised the film's dialogue, while the critic from The Irish Times opined that the film lacked "spark or insight". It was announced that Sorkin would be reuniting with director Bartlett Sher to write

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3864-578: The Sunset Strip , written by him and Schlamme as producer, started circulating in Hollywood and online. In that same month, NBC bought the rights from Warner Bros. Television to air the series on their network for a near-record license fee after a bidding war with CBS. The show's name was later changed to Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip . 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

3956-400: The US. Strippergrams in the UK are sometimes hired for events such as stag parties . Typically a Strip-O-Gram is most often a form of gift given for a birthday , anniversary or bachelor party . A common practice is for the stripper-gram to be dressed in an outfit of one kind or another and to act out some charade connected with this, before commencing their act – for example

4048-621: The United States. No additional details were released about the film. Shortly, Sorkin was contacted by Jocelyn Clarke of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin , requesting he write a play for them, a commission which he accepted. Sorkin decided to rewrite 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 planned for 2007 with La Jolla Playhouse deciding to stage

4140-597: The artist is in costume or formal clothing. Western Union , the American telegraph company, began offering singing telegram services in 1933. That July 28, a fan sent Hollywood singing star Rudy Vallee a birthday greeting by telegram. George P. Oslin (1899–1996), the Western Union public relations director, decided this would be a good opportunity to make telegrams, which had been associated with deaths and other tragic news, into something more popular. He asked

4232-631: The audience has to want it for him. —Sorkin HBO ordered a pilot episode in January 2011 with the working title More as This Story Develops, with Scott Rudin serving as an executive producer. In September, HBO ordered a 10-episode series of The Newsroom with a premiere date of June 2012. A day after the second episode aired, HBO renewed the series for a second season. Sorkin said The Newsroom "is meant to be an idealistic, romantic, swashbuckling, sometimes comedic but very optimistic, upward-looking look at

4324-448: The audience to witness every journey these people took. It all had a purpose, even seeing them order lunch. It just seemed to be the proper visual rhythm with which to marry Aaron's words. I got lucky that it worked. — Thomas Schlamme on the " walk and talk " device Sorkin has written for the theater, film, and television, and in each medium his level of collaboration with other creators has varied. He began in theater, which involved

4416-413: The backstage maneuverings at a late night sketch comedy show. On September 18, 2006, the pilot for Studio 60 aired on NBC, directed by Schlamme. The pilot was critically acclaimed and viewed by an audience of over 12 million, but the show experienced a significant drop in viewership mid-season. Even before the first episode aired, there was a large amount of thoughtful and scrupulous criticism in

4508-535: The budget meetings; Sorkin tends to stick strictly to writing. In response to what he perceived as unfair criticism of The Newsroom , Jacob Drum of Digital Americana wrote, "The essential truth that the critics miss is that The Newsroom is Sorkin being Sorkin as he always has been and always will be: one part pioneer; one part self-conscious romantic; two parts actual Lewis & Clark-style pioneer, trapping his way across an old, old idea of an America that can always stand to raise its game—but most importantly, spinning

4600-482: The characters are. It suggests that there is so much to do and so little time to do it in that even traveling time must be used to serve additional functions. It also serves the purposes of smoothing transitions from one location to another and adding visual interest to what might otherwise be static "talking heads" sequences. The main Law & Order series in the U.S. have used the technique to this purpose occasionally, and

4692-558: The core classes. Determined to do better, he returned for his sophomore year, and graduated in 1983 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in musical theatre . Recalling the influence of theatre teacher Arthur Storch , Sorkin said: "Arthur's reputation as a director, and as a disciple of Lee Strasberg , was a big reason why a lot of us went to S.U. [Syracuse University]... 'You have the capacity to be so much better than you are', he started saying to me in September of my senior year. He

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4784-424: The film as "deviously entertaining from its start through its finish". Critic Roger Ebert gave it 2 out of 4 stars, and Peter Travers in a 2000 Rolling Stone review summarized it as having "suspense but no staying power". Sorkin's last screenplay under Castle Rock was The American President ; once again he worked with William Goldman who served as a creative consultant. It took Sorkin several years to write

4876-633: The film rights for A Few Good Men to producer David Brown before it premiered, in a deal that was reportedly "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 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 . It starred Tom Hulce and

4968-512: The film was released in December 2017 to mostly positive reviews; Sorkin received his third Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes , Molly's Game garnered an approval rating of 81% based on 297 reviews, with an average rating of 7.07/10. Sorkin told Vanity Fair in July 2020 that Steven Spielberg offered him a job in 2006 about "a movie about

5060-612: The first two drafts. However, he had to leave the project to finish the script for A Few Good Men , so screenwriter Scott Frank stepped in and wrote two drafts of the Malice screenplay. When production on A Few Good Men was completed, Sorkin resumed working on Malice right through the final shooting script . Harold Becker directed the 1993 thriller, which starred Nicole Kidman and Alec Baldwin . Malice had mixed reviews; Vincent Canby in The New York Times described

5152-482: The founders of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU). Sorkin took an early interest in acting. During childhood, his parents took him to the theatre to see shows such as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and That Championship Season . Sorkin attended Scarsdale High School where he became involved in the drama and theatre club. In the eighth grade, he played General Bullmoose in

5244-580: The idea to write about the behind-the-scenes happenings on a sports show while residing at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles writing the screenplay for The American President . He would work late, with the television tuned into ESPN , watching continuous replays of SportsCenter . 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

5336-412: The musical Li'l Abner . At Scarsdale High, he served as vice president of the drama club in his junior and senior years, and graduated in 1979. In 1979, Sorkin attended Syracuse University . In his freshman year , he failed a class that was a core requirement, which caused a setback because he wanted to be an actor, and the drama department did not allow students to take the stage until they completed

5428-647: The news industry, Sorkin observed the production crew at MSNBC 's Countdown with Keith Olbermann , and quizzed Parker Spitzer ' s staff. He also spent time shadowing Hardball with Chris Matthews , as well as other programs on Fox News and CNN . Sorkin told TV Guide that he intended to take a less cynical view of the media: "They're going to be trying to do well in a context where it's very difficult to do well when there are commercial concerns and political concerns and corporate concerns." Sorkin decided that rather than have his characters react to fictional news events as on his earlier series, it would be set in

5520-414: The one-act into a full-length play called Making Movies . Sorkin was inspired to write his next play, a courtroom drama called A Few Good Men , from a phone conversation with his sister Deborah, who had graduated from Boston University Law School and signed up for a three-year stint with the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps . Deborah told Sorkin that she was going to Guantanamo Bay to defend

5612-646: The play ran from February 20, 2007, through March 25, 2007. A Broadway production followed soon after, beginning in previews , and opening on November 14, 2007; however, the play was delayed by the 2007 Broadway stagehand strike . The Farnsworth Invention eventually opened at the Music Box Theatre on December 3, 2007, and closed on March 2, 2008. In 2007, Sorkin was commissioned by Universal Pictures to adapt George Crile's non-fiction book Charlie Wilson's War for Tom Hanks ' production company Playtone . The biographical comedy, Charlie Wilson's War ,

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5704-553: The play was a financial success where it transferred to the West End and embarked on a national tour. The play returned to Broadway following the COVID-19 pandemic , with Daniels returning to the role. Next, Sorkin made his directorial debut with Molly's Game , an adaptation of entrepreneur Molly Bloom 's memoir. He also wrote the script for the film, which starred Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba . Production began in 2016 and

5796-531: The plot streams interrelate with the characters. An early use of the technique is in the British police procedural The Bill , and it was used widely on St. Elsewhere but it was arguably popularized by ER , which used the technique to get doctors from place to place. Director Thomas Schlamme also favored the technique in Sports Night when working with writer Aaron Sorkin . Schlamme adapted it from

5888-422: The press, as well as negative analysis from bloggers . In January 2007, Sorkin spoke out against the press for reporting heavily on the low ratings, and for using blogs and unemployed comedy writers as sources. After two months hiatus, Studio 60 resumed airing the last episodes of season one, which would be its only season. As early as 2003, Sorkin was writing a spec script about inventor Philo Farnsworth ; he

5980-548: The project was proving "tough to get together". In late July 2013, it was announced that Paul Greengrass would be directing, but Sorkin eventually both wrote and directed the film. Focusing on the Chicago Seven (and Bobby Seale ), the film began a limited release on September 25, 2020, before streaming on Netflix . At the 78th Golden Globes , Sorkin won Best Screenplay, and was nominated for Best Director. In September 2015, Entertainment Weekly reported that Sorkin

6072-404: The recent past and track real-world stories largely as they unfolded, to give a greater sense of realism. [T]he trick is to follow the rules of classic storytelling. Drama is basically about one thing: Somebody wants something, and something or someone is standing in the way of him getting it. What he wants—the money, the girl, the ticket to Philadelphia—doesn't really matter. But whatever it is,

6164-502: The same award categories for co-writing Moneyball . It is based on Michael Lewis 's 2003 non-fiction book of the same name , an account of the Oakland Athletics baseball team's 2002 season and their general manager Billy Beane 's attempts to assemble a competitive team. The film was directed by Bennett Miller , and starred Brad Pitt , Jonah Hill , and Philip Seymour Hoffman . Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called

6256-649: The screenplay for The American President , which started off at 385-pages; it was eventually reduced to a standard shooting script of around 120 pages. The film, also directed by Reiner, was critically acclaimed; Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times described it 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". A Few Good Men , Malice and The American President grossed approximately $ 400 million worldwide. In

6348-470: The script "dynamite", in which Sorkin's "sharply witty touch is everywhere". In 2011, Sorkin played himself on the series 30 Rock , episode " Plan B ", where he did a "walk and talk" with Liz Lemon played by Tina Fey . While still working on the screenplay for The Social Network , Sorkin was contemplating a television drama about the behind-the-scenes events at a cable news program. Talks had been ongoing between Sorkin and HBO since 2010. To research

6440-515: The second half of the 1990s, Sorkin worked as a script doctor . He wrote some quips for Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage in 1996's The Rock . He worked on Excess Baggage , a 1997 comedy about a girl who stages her own kidnapping to get her father's attention, and rewrote some of Will Smith 's scenes in Enemy of the State . Sorkin collaborated with Warren Beatty on several scripts, one of which

6532-415: The series a record holder for most Emmys won by a series in a single season at the time. Following the awards ceremony , there was a dispute about the acceptance speech for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series . The West Wing episode " In Excelsis Deo " won, which was awarded to Sorkin and Rick Cleveland , but The New York Times reported that Sorkin ushered Cleveland off the stage before he could say

6624-486: The show as the First Lady ;... She took me out to lunch and said she really liked doing the show and wanted to do more and started asking me questions like, "Who do you think this character is?" And those aren't questions I can answer. [As a writer] I can only answer, what do they want? —Sorkin on creating characters Sorkin conceived the political drama The West Wing in 1997 when he went unprepared to

6716-503: The show due to internal conflicts at Warner Bros. Television, causing John Wells to serve as showrunner. Sorkin never watched any episodes beyond his writing tenure apart from a minute of the fifth season's first episode, describing the experience as "like watching somebody make out with my girlfriend." Sorkin later returned in the series finale for a cameo appearance as a guest at the inauguration of Matthew Santos. In 2005, Sorkin returned to theatre; he revised his play A Few Good Men for

6808-481: 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 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

6900-399: The spotlight-hogging standards of Hollywood, Sorkin has been exceptionally ungenerous in his sharing of writing credit". In a comment to GQ 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 long-term collaboration with Schlamme began in early 1998 when they found they shared common creative ground on

6992-581: The stage, reuniting with Jeff Daniels , who would portray Atticus Finch . This would be Sorkin's first collaboration with director Bartlett Sher . His Broadway adaptation opened on December 13, 2018, to positive reviews at the Shubert Theatre . The play received nine Tony Award nominations, although notably not for Best Play . Despite initial legal disputes with the Harper Lee estate and controversy regarding actions by producer Scott Rudin ,

7084-418: The telephone in the 1960s reduced telegrams in general. By 1972, Western Union was receiving a small number of requests for singing telegrams and was seeking regulatory approval on a state-by-state basis to eliminate the offering. Western Union suspended its singing telegram service in 1974, but independent singing telegram companies, specializing in often costumed personal delivery of gift messages, have kept up

7176-496: The tradition. The linguistic morpheme "-gram" is also found at the end of words in combining forms to give the names of variants on the personally delivered message. These novelty telegrams are generally designed to amuse or embarrass the recipient. The message deliverers are mostly hired through a specialist commercial agency . Examples include the kissogram, strippergram, Gorillagram etc. A kissogram , also called kissagram or kiss-a-gram (short for kissing telegram ),

7268-412: The two walk several stretches of hallway together without talking at all. Sorkin later parodied the technique during a guest stint on 30 Rock in the season 5 episode " Plan B ". Sorkin and show star Tina Fey are each waiting their turn for a meeting, when they engage in conversation. Sorkin suggests they "walk and talk", and they end up meandering through the hallways of the office building for about

7360-460: The typical wide-angle shot of the time to a closer tight-angle shot, usually encompassing only the subjects' upper torsos. Subsequently, Schlamme used this technique heavily in Sorkin's NBC show The West Wing , and it remains a favorite of Sorkin, who continued its use in his show, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip . In both shows, Sorkin has at times referenced his own use of the technique in character dialogue. One example of this can be found in

7452-420: The walk-and-talk occurs in " Debate Camp " during one of the flashback sequences to their first days in the White House. Josh and Sam are looking for a meeting in room West Wing 160 and agree to prepare for the meeting while searching for the room. Sam says to Josh, "We'd better get used to having meetings in the hall from now on." Josh later says that he is going to walk around some more and see if he can "get into

7544-451: Was 1998's Bulworth . 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; once the matter was settled, he resumed working on the script. Sorkin conceived

7636-432: Was approached by producer Fred Zollo in the 1990s about adapting Elma Farnsworth's memoir into a biographical film . The following year, he completed the film screenplay, The Farnsworth Invention , which was acquired by New Line Cinema with Schlamme as director. The story is about the patent battle between Farnsworth and RCA tycoon David Sarnoff for the technology that allowed the first television transmissions in

7728-479: Was based on Walter Isaacson 's biography of Steve Jobs , and starred Michael Fassbender as Jobs, Kate Winslet as Joanna Hoffman , Jeff Daniels as John Sculley , and Seth Rogen as Steve Wozniak . Sorkin expressed hesitation for tackling the film, saying "it was a little like writing about the Beatles—that there are so many people out there who know so much about him [Jobs] and who revere him that I just saw

7820-403: Was declined due to the lack of star actor involvement. Brown later received a phone call from Alan Horn at Castle Rock Entertainment who was eager to make the film. Rob Reiner , a Castle Rock producing partner, opted to direct. Sorkin worked under contract for Castle Rock Entertainment, where he befriended colleagues William Goldman and Rob Reiner, and met his future wife Julia Bingham, who

7912-469: Was directed by Don Scardino . After opening in late 1989, it ran for 497 performances. Sorkin continued writing Making Movies and in 1990 it debuted Off-Broadway at the Promenade Theatre, produced by John A. McQuiggan, and again directed by Don Scardino. Meanwhile, Brown was producing for TriStar Pictures , and tried to interest them in adapting A Few Good Men into a film, but his proposal

8004-452: 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 which debuted off-off-Broadway at Steve Olsen's West Bank Cafe Downstairs Theatre Bar in New York City in 1988. The quality of his first two plays earned him a theatrical agent . Producer John A. McQuiggan saw the production of Hidden in This Picture and commissioned Sorkin to turn

8096-512: Was one of Castle Rock's business affairs lawyers. Sorkin wrote several drafts of the script for A Few Good Men in his Manhattan apartment, learning the craft from a book about screenplay format . He then spent several months at the Los Angeles offices of Castle Rock, working on the script with director Rob Reiner. William Goldman (who regularly worked under contract at Castle Rock) became his mentor and helped him to adapt his stage play into

8188-403: Was something that I brought to the party that was at a high-enough level. —Sorkin on becoming a writer Sorkin moved to New York City where he spent much of the 1980s as a struggling, sporadically employed actor who worked odd jobs, such as delivering singing telegrams , driving a limousine, touring Alabama with the children's theatre company Traveling Playhouse, handing out flyers promoting

8280-566: Was still saying it in May. On the last day of classes, he said it again, and I said, 'How?', and he answered, 'Dare to fail'. I've been coming through on his admonition ever since". I don't want to analyze myself or anything, but I think, in fact I know this to be true, that I enter the world through what I write. I grew up believing, and continue to believe, that I am a screw-up, that growing up with my family and friends, I had nothing to offer in any conversation. But when I started writing, suddenly there

8372-618: Was told to wait due to the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal . There was a concern that television audiences would not be able to take a series about the White House seriously. A year later, other networks started showing interest in The West Wing. NBC decided to give the project the green-light despite their previous reluctance. The pilot debuted in the fall of 1999 and was produced by Warner Bros. Television . The West Wing garnered nine Primetime Emmy Awards for its debut season , making

8464-414: Was writing a biopic that would focus on the twenty-year marriage of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz , and their work on a comedy series, I Love Lucy . Cate Blanchett was originally to star as Ball. In 2017, Amazon Studios acquired the rights to the film. In January 2021, it was announced that Blanchett had been replaced by Nicole Kidman , and Javier Bardem had been cast as Desi Arnaz. Titled Being

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