Aaron Sorkin

Infobox actor
name = Aaron Sorkin


imagesize = 180px
caption = 20 August 2008
birthdate = birth date and age|mf=yes|1961|6|9
birthplace = New York City, New York, USA
occupation = Screenwriter, producer
playwright
spouse = Julia Bingham (1996–2005)
website =
emmyawards = Outstanding Writing - Drama Series
2000 "The West Wing:" "In Excelsis Deo"
Outstanding Drama Series
2000 "The West Wing"
2001 "The West Wing"
2002 "The West Wing"
2003 "The West Wing"

Aaron Benjamin Sorkin (born June 9, 1961) is an American screenwriter, producer and playwright. After graduating from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Musical Theatre in 1983, Sorkin spent much of the 1980s in New York as a struggling, largely unemployed actor." [http://sumagazine.syr.edu/summer01/features/spotlight/index.html In the Spotlight: Script Sensation] ", Brad Herzog, "Syracuse University Magazine", Summer 2001. Retrieved on May 9, 2007.] He found his passion in writing plays, and quickly established himself as a young promising playwright. His stageplay "A Few Good Men" caught the attention of Hollywood producer David Brown, who bought the film rights before the play even premiered.

Castle Rock Entertainment hired Sorkin to adapt "A Few Good Men" for the big screen. The movie, directed by Rob Reiner, became a box office success. Sorkin spent the early 1990s writing two other screenplays at Castle Rock for the films "Malice" and "The American President". In the mid-1990s he worked as a script doctor on films such as "Schindler's List" and "Bulworth". In 1998 his television career began when he created the TV comedy series "Sports Night" for the ABC network. "Sports Night"'s second season was its last, and in 1999 overlapped with the debut of Sorkin's next TV series, the multiple-Emmy-award-winning political drama "The West Wing", this time for the NBC network. He left "The West Wing" at the end of its fourth season in 2003, after which it continued three more seasons without him. He returned to television in 2006 with the dramedy "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip", 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".cite news |title=Holiday weekends will drive 2007 boxoffice |author=Martin A. Grove |date=2007-01-12 |publisher=Hollywood Reporter |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003531904 |accessdate=2007-01-23]

After more than a decade away from the theatre, Sorkin returned to adapt for the stage his screenplay "The Farnsworth Invention", which started a workshop run at La Jolla Playhouse in February 2007 and which opened on Broadway in December 2007.

He has 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 the drug dependence. In television, Sorkin is known as a controlling writer, who rarely shares the job of penning the teleplays with other writers. His writing staff are more likely to do research and come up with stories for him to tell. His trademark is writing rapid-fire dialogue and extended soliloquies, and in television, this penchant is complemented by frequent collaborator Thomas Schlamme's characteristic visual technique called the "Walk and Talk".

Early years

Sorkin was born in the borough of Manhattan in New York City to Jewish parents, and raised in the wealthy suburb of Scarsdale, New York.cite news |title=A Troubled Genius |author=Oliver Jones |date=2001-05-28 |work=US Weekly |url=http://b4a.healthyinterest.net/news/000083.html |accessdate=2007-01-22] His mother was a school teacher and his father a copyright lawyer; both his older sister and brother went on to become lawyers. [cite news |title=Sorkin to nest at WBTV: Big deal for ace scribe runs 4 years |author=Josef Adalian, Michael Schneider |date=2000-07-26 |work=Variety |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117784231.html |accessdate=2008-09-26 |quote=Sorkin's association with Warner Bros. follows in the footsteps of his father Bernard, a New York-based copyright expert who started with the studio 40 years ago when it was Warner Bros.-7 Arts. ] 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?" and "That Championship Season". At that age, Sorkin did not always comprehend the plot of the plays; nevertheless he recalls enjoying the sound of the dialogue.cite news |title=Words fly down the halls of power |author=Emma Forrest |date=2002-05-02 |work=The Age |url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/05/02/1019441403137.html |accessdate=2007-01-12]

Sorkin attended Scarsdale High School 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".

In 1979 Sorkin attended Syracuse University. In his freshman year 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. [cite book |title=The Creation of the Future: The Role of the American University |author=Frank Harold Trevor Rhodes |year=2001 |month=October |publisher=Cornell University Press |pages=p.75–76 |isbn=978-0801439377 ]

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,cite news |title=Aaron Sorkin Works His Way Through the Crisis |author=Peter De Jonge |date=2001-10-28 |work=The New York Times |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B01EFD81F3EF93BA15753C1A9679C8B63 |accessdate=2007-01-12] handing out fliers promoting a hunting-and-fishing show, to bartending on Broadway at theatres such as the Palace Theatre. [cite web |title=PLAYBILL ON-LINE'S BRIEF ENCOUNTER with Peter Krause |author=Ernio Hernandez |url=http://www.playbill.com/celebritybuzz/article/87365.html |work=Playbill |accessdate=2007-06-07] One weekend, while house sitting at a friend's place 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 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" which debuted off-off-Broadway 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.cite web |title=Three days, 15 seminars, one great experience |author=Valerie Weiss, PhD |year=2003 |month=December |publisher=ImagineNews.com |url=http://www.imaginenews.com/Archive/2003/DEC_2003/01_FEATURES/12_THREE_DAYS.html |accessdate=2007-01-12] 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", from a phone conversation with his sister Deborah, who had graduated from Boston University Law School and signed up for a 3-year stint with the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps. She was going to Guantanamo Bay to defend 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 on Broadway. [cite web |title=A Few Good Men London theatre tickets and information |publisher=ThisIsTheatre.com |url=http://www.thisistheatre.com/londonshows/afewgoodmen.html |accessdate=2007-01-22] He and his roommates had purchased a Macintosh 512K 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 before it even premiered, for a deal possibly worth a sum well into six-figures. [cite news |title=Marine Life |date=1989-11-27 |author=William A. Henry III |work=Time |url=http://jcgi.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,959129,00.html |accessdate=2007-01-12] 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. It starred Tom Hulce and was directed by Don Scardino. After opening in late 1989, it ran for 497 performances. [cite news |title=Aaron Sorkin Working on A Few Good Men for London and New Play for Dublin's Abbey |author=Ernio Hernandez |date=2004-06-18 |work=Playbill |url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/86900.html |accessdate=2007-01-20]

Sorkin continued writing "Making Movies" and in 1990 it debuted off-Broadway 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 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 who was anxious to make the film. Rob Reiner, a producing partner at Castle Rock, opted to direct it.cite book |title=Movie Moguls Speak: Interviews with Top Film Producers |last=Prigge |first=Steven |year=2004 |month=October |publisher=McFarland & Company |pages=p.12–13 |isbn=978-0786419296]

creenwriting career

Working under contract for Castle Rock Entertainment

In the early 1990s, Sorkin worked under contract for Castle Rock Entertainment, Inc.cite news |title= Rob Reiner's March To 'A Few Good Men' |author=Bernard Weinraub |date=1992-12-06 |work=The New York Times |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE6D71738F935A35751C1A964958260 |accessdate=2007-09-26] 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 and Rob Reiner and met his future wife, Julia Bingham, who was one of Castle Rock's business-affairs lawyers.cite news |title=On a Wing and a Prayer |author=Patrick Goldstein |date=1999-10-10 |work=Los Angeles Times |url=http://articles.latimes.com/1999/oct/10/entertainment/ca-20753 |accessdate=2008-09-26 ]

Sorkin wrote several drafts of the script for "A Few Good Men" in his New York apartment, learning the craft of screenwriting from a book about screenplay format. 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. [cite interview |last=Sorkin |first=Aaron |interviewer=Katie Couric |program=The Today Show |callsign=NBC |city=New York |date=2002-05-22|url=http://b4a.healthyinterest.net/news/000124.html] 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.cite web |title=Aaron Sorkin Biography |author=Jason Buchanan |publisher=All Movie Guide |url=http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=2:112161~T1 |accessdate=2008-09-31]

Goldman also approached Sorkin with a story premise, which Sorkin developed into the script for "Malice". Goldman oversaw the project as creative consultant 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 had been hired to write 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. Harold Becker directed "Malice", a medical thriller released in 1993, which starred Nicole Kidman and Alec Baldwin. "Malice" had mixed reviews, including Vincent Canby in "The New York Times" who described the film as "deviously entertaining from its start through its finish". Roger Ebert panned it, and Peter Travers in a 2000 "Rolling Stone" review summarized it as having "suspense but no staying power". [cite news |title=An Idyll Shattered By Rape and Murder |author=Vincent Canby |date=1993-10-01 |work=The New York Times |url=http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=2&res=9F0CEEDD103CF932A35753C1A965958260 |accessdate=2008-09-26 ] [cite news |title="Malice" |author=Roger Ebert |date=1993-10-01 |work=Chicago Sun-Times |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19931001/REVIEWS/310010306/1023 |accessdate=2008-09-26] [cite news |title="Malice" |author=Peter Travers |date=2000-12-08 |work=Rolling Stone |url=http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/5948919/review/5948920/malice |accessdate=2008-09-26]

Sorkin's last produced screenplay for Castle Rock was "The American President" 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.cite news |title=Aaron Sorkin is a man of many words |author=John Levesque |date=2000-03-07 |work=Seattle Post-Intelligencer |url=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/sork07.shtml |accessdate=2007-01-10] Rob Reiner directed. The film was critically acclaimed. Kenneth Turan 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". [cite news |title="The American President": Boy Meets Girl, Brings Along Secret Service 'The American President' is a sentimental fantasy, mixing romance |author=Kenneth Turan |date=1995-11-17 |work=Los Angeles Times |url=http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-movie960406-46,0,1355383.story |accessdate=2008-09-26]

cript 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" at Steven Spielberg's invitation. [cite news |title=West Wing creator arrested |date=2001-04-17 |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1281447.stm |accessdate=2007-01-19] He wrote some quips for Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage in "The Rock". He worked on "Excess Baggage", a comedy about a girl who stages her own kidnapping to get her father's attention. He rewrote some of Will Smith's scenes in "Enemy of the State".cite book |title=The West Wing Script Book |author=Aaron Sorkin |year=2002 |month=July |publisher=Newmarket Press |isbn=978-1557045492]

Sorkin collaborated with Warren Beatty on a couple of scripts, one of which was "Bulworth", contributing a polish. 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. [Peter Biskind. " [http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2006/03/reds200603 Thunder on the Left: The Making of "Reds"] ", "Vanity Fair", March 2006.] [cite news |title=Beatty's bete noir? scribe makes waves over 'Ocean.' |author=Chris Petrikin |date=1997-09-01 |work=Variety ] cite book |title=The Gross: The Hits, the Flops: The Summer That Ate Hollywood |author=Peter Bart |date=2000-02-21 |publisher=St. Martin's Griffin |pages=p. 95–96 |isbn=978-0312253912] [cite news |title=Hanging With Warren B |author=Patrick Goldstein |date=1998-05-03 |work=Los Angeles Times |url=http://articles.latimes.com/1998/may/03/entertainment/ca-45719 |accessdate=2008-09-26]

"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, watching continuous replays of "SportsCenter". [cite news |title=Quality of 'Sports Night' no Laughing Matter |author=John Levesque |date=1998-10-13 |work=Seattle Post-Intelligencer |url=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/archives/1998/9810130066.asp |accessdate=2008-09-26 ] 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. [cite web |title=Page 2: Keeping it real on 'Sports Night' |author=Jeff Merron |date=2002-11-12 |publisher=ESPN.com |url=http://espn.go.com/page2/s/merron/021112.html |accessdate=2007-01-19] [cite news |title=Their Championship Season: In the Dugout with the MVPs of Sports Night |author=Richard Firstman |work=TV Guide |url=http://sportsnight.tktv.net/tvguide3.23.html |accessdate=2007-01-19] "Sports Night" was produced by Disney and debuted on the Disney-owned ABC network in the fall of 1998.cite news |title=Huffman is game for 'Sports Night', but is ABC? |date=1999-03-10 |author=Ed Bark |work=Dallas Morning News |url=http://www.felicity-huffman.com/articles.php?subaction=showcomments&id=921119214&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1& |accessdate=2007-01-28]

Sorkin fought with the ABC network 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.com describing it as "the most unconvincing laugh track you've ever heard".cite news |title=A Laugh Riot |author=Joe Flint |date=1998-09-25 |work=Entertainment Weekly |url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,284963,00.html |accessdate=2007-01-25] [cite news |title=Why are "Dilbert" and "Sports Night" like a day at the office? Because watching them is a grind |author=Joyce Millman |date=1999-02-22 |publisher=Salon.com |url=http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/mill/1999/02/22mill.html |accessdate=2007-01-25] 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 use of the laugh track was gradually dialed down until it was eventually gone at the end of the first season. [cite news |title=Redundant 'Sports Night' loses its momentum |author=Rob Owen |date=1999-03-18 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |url=http://www.postgazette.com/tv/19990318owen6a.asp |accessdate=2007-01-25] Sorkin was triumphant in the second season when ABC agreed to his demands, unburdening the crew of the difficulties of staging a scene for a live audience and leaving the cast with more time to rehearse.

Sorkin wrote 40 out of a total of 45 produced teleplays for "Sports Night" over two seasons.Fact|date=October 2008 Although "Sports Night" was critically acclaimed, ABC canceled the show after two seasons due to its low ratings. [cite news |title=Networks are slower to cancel TV series, but viewers are still wary |author=Rob Owen |date=2000-10-01 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/tv/20001001cancel4.asp] [cite news |title=News at 9:30: Reprieve for Witty ‘Sports Night’ |author=Howard Rosenberg |date=1999-12-06 |work=Los Angeles Times |url=http://articles.latimes.com/1999/dec/06/entertainment/ca-40968] 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"

"The West Wing" is a political TV drama about a fictional Bartlett presidency in the White House in which Martin Sheen plays the President of the United States. In 1997 Sorkin came unprepared to a lunch with producer John Wells and in a panic pitched to Wells a show centered around the senior staff of the White House.Fact|date=October 2008 He told Wells about his visitsFact|date=October 2008 to the White House while doing research for "The American President"; they discussed public service and the passion of the people who serve.Fact|date=October 2008 Wells took the concept and pitched it to the NBC network, but was told to wait because the facts behind the Lewinsky scandal were breaking and there was concern that an audience would not be able to take a show about the White House seriously. [cite web |title=Pilot episode |publisher=The West Wing Episode Guide |url=http://www.westwingepguide.com/S1/Episodes/1_PILOT.html |accessdate=2007-01-23] When a year later some other networks started showing interest in "The West Wing", NBC decided to greenlight the series despite their previous reluctance.Fact|date=October 2008 Sorkin partially conceptualized "The West Wing" using leftover dialogue from his bloated 385-page script for "The American President".Fact|date=October 2008 The pilot debuted in the fall of 1999 and was produced by Warner Bros. TV. [cite web |title=The Real White House |author=Matthew Miller |date=2000-03-01 |url=http://b4a.healthyinterest.net/news/2000_03.html |publisher=Brill's Content |accessdate=2007-01-18]

"The West Wing" was honored with 9 Emmy Awards for its debut season, making the show a record holder for most Emmys won by a series in a single season.Fact|date=October 2008 Following the awards ceremony, a fiasco ensued, centered around the Emmy for writing "The West Wing" episode "In Excelsis Deo" which was awarded to Sorkin and Rick Cleveland, 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. [cite news |title='West Wing' Producer, a Union Leader, Rules Out Writers' Raises |author=Bernard Weinraub |date=2001-06-26 |work=The New York Times |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/26/arts/26WEST.html |accessdate=2007-01-17] 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". [cite web |title=I Was the Dumb Looking Guy with the Wire-Rimmed Glasses |author=Rick Cleveland |publisher=FreshYarn.com |url=http://www.freshyarn.com/10/essays/cleveland_iwas.htm |accessdate=2007-01-17] 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. [cite news |title=West Wing Web War! |author=Mickey Kaus |date=2001-07-03 |publisher=Slate.com |url=http://www.slate.com/id/1007932/ |accessdate=2007-01-17] In the end, Sorkin apologized to Cleveland, admitting he had been "dead wrong". [cite web |title=In Excelsis Deo |publisher=The West Wing Episode Guide |url=http://www.westwingepguide.com/S1/Episodes/10_IED.html |accessdate=2007-01-17]

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 the Burbank Airport for possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms, marijuana, and crack cocaine. He was ordered by a judge to a drug diversion program. His drug addiction was highly publicized, most notably when "Saturday Night Live" did a parody called "The West Wing" (see Personal life). Sorkin recovered and continued writing "The West Wing"'s scripts with the same devotion.Fact|date=October 2008

In 2002, Sorkin assailed NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw's 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. [cite news |title=West Wing Watch: Snookered by Bush |date=2002-02-25 |work=The New Yorker |url=http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/020304ta_talk_friend?020304ta_talk_friend |accessdate=2007-01-14] Sorkin's TV series "The West Wing" aired on the same network, and so at the request of NBC's Entertainment President Jeff Zucker he apologized, but would later say "there should be a difference between what NBC News does and what "The West Wing" TV series does." [cite news |title='West Wing' Creator Defends Comments |author=Lynn Elber |date=2002-03-05 |published=Associated Press ] [cite book |title=Hollywood's New Radicalism: War, Globalisation and the Movies from Reagan to George W. Bush |first=Ben |last=Dickenson |date=2006-03-03 |publisher=I. B. Tauris |pages=pp. 111–112 |isbn=978-1845111038 ]

Sorkin wrote 87 teleplays in all, which amounts to nearly every episode during the show's first four Emmy-winning seasons.cite news |title=Finale: 'West Wing' |author=Ray Richmond |date=2006-05-12 |work=The Hollywood Reporter |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002502427 |accessdate=2008-09-26] Sorkin describes his role in the creative process as "not so much [that of] a showrunner or a producer. I'm really a writer."cite web |title=Interview with Aaron Sorkin: Creator and Executive Producer of "Sports Night" and "The West Wing" |publisher=Comedy Central.com |date=2001-01-01 |url=http://b4a.healthyinterest.net/news/000043.html |accessdate=2007-01-10] 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."cite interview |last=Sorkin |first=Aaron |interviewer=Charlie Rose |program=The Charlie Rose Show |city=New York |date=2003-08-13 |url=http://westwing.bewarne.com/credits/sorkin.html] In 2003, at the end of the fourth season, Sorkin and fellow executive producer Thomas Schlamme 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. [cite news |title=Sorkin sulking away from 'Wing': Regime change for NBC White House series |author=Josef Adalian |date=2003-05-01 |work=Variety |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117885506.html?categoryid=1236&cs=1 |accessdate=2007-01-14] [cite news |title=Sorkin back at NBC with 'Studio' deal NBC gets Sorkin show |author=Andrew Wallenstein |date=2005-10-15 |work=The Hollywood Reporter |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001306595 |accessdate=2007-01-27]

"Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip"

In 2003 Sorkin divulged to the American television interviewer Charlie Rose on "The Charlie Rose Show" that he was developing a TV series based on a late night sketch comedy show like "Saturday Night Live". [cite news |title=Inside Move: Sorkin scripting play, pic: Return to TV on hold |author=Scott Hettrick |date=2003-09-11 |work=Variety |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117892324.html?categoryid=1236&cs=1 |accessdate=2007-01-14] In early October 2005 a pilot script dubbed "Studio 7 on the Sunset Strip" written by Aaron Sorkin for a new TV series from him and producer Thomas Schlamme started circulating around Hollywood and generating interest on the web. A week later, NBC bought from Warner Bros. TV the right to show the TV series on their network for a near record license fee in a bidding war with CBS. [cite news |title=Peacock on 'Studio' beat: Sorkin, Schlamme sell behind-the-scenes drama skein |author=Josef Adalian |date=2005-10-14 |work=Variety |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117931024.html?categoryid=14&cs=1 |accessdate=2007-01-21 ] 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 the backstage maneuverings at a late night sketch comedy show. [cite news |title=Sorkin turns his attention to TV |author=Kevin Young |date=2006-08-27 |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5290474.stm |accessdate=2007-01-21]

In September 2006, the pilot for "Studio 60" aired on NBC, directed by Thomas Schlamme. The pilot was critically acclaimed and had high ratings, but "Studio 60" experienced a significant drop in audience by mid-season.Fact|date=September 2008 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.Fact|date=October 2008 [cite news |title=Sorkin takes the blame for `60’ |author=Patrick Goldstein |date=2007-07-17 |work=Los Angeles Times |url=http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jul/17/entertainment/et-goldstein17 |accessdate=2008-09-26] In January 2007 Sorkin spoke out against the press for focusing too heavily on the ratings slide and for criticism that sources blogs and unemployed comedy writers.Fact|date=September 2008 After many months on hiatus, "Studio 60" resumed but only to air the last episodes of season one. The show was officially canceled on May 14Fact|date=February 2008. The final air date in North America was June 28, 2007.Fact|date=September 2008

Back to writing for film

In 2003, Sorkin was writing a screenplay on spec about the story of Philo Farnsworth, 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. [cite news |title=Inside 'The Alamo' |author=Army Archerd |date=2003-10-29 |work=Variety |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117894813.html?categoryid=2&cs=1 |accessdate=2007-01-23] The next year he completed the screenplay under the title "The Farnsworth Invention", and it was picked up by New Line Cinema with Thomas Schlamme signed on to direct. The story is about the patent battle between inventor Philo Farnsworth and RCA tycoon David Sarnoff for the technology that allowed the first television transmissions.cite press release |title=New Line Cinema acquires Aaron Sorkin's The Farnsworth Invention, taps Thomas Schlamme to direct |date=April 28, 2004 |publisher=New Line Cinema |url=http://www.newline.com/press/2004/0428_farnsworth.shtml |accessdate=2007-01-21] However, Sorkin shortly reconsidered "The Farnsworth Invention" as a film and rewrote it as a play; the film did not go into production.

Sorkin's next jaunt back into film occurred when he was commissioned by Universal Pictures to adapt "60 Minutes" producer George Crile's nonfiction book "Charlie Wilson's War" for Tom Hanks' production company Playtone. [cite news |title=Sorkin goes from White House to front line: Playtone partners Hanks, Goetzman to produce 'War' |author=Michael Fleming |date=2004-06-17 |work=Variety |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117906666.html?categoryid=1236&cs=1 |accessdate=2007-01-23] "Charlie Wilson's War" is about the colorful Texas congressman Charlie Wilson who funded the CIA's secret war against the former Soviet Union in Afghanistan. [cite news |title=Playtone goes to 'War' with U: Hanks to play former Texas congressman Wilson |author=Michael Fleming |date=2003-07-20 |work=Variety |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117889616.html?categoryid=1236&cs=1 |accessdate=2007-01-23] Sorkin completed the screenplay and the film was released in 2007 starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, directed by Mike Nichols.Fact|date=October 2008

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. [cite news |title=Sorkin on 'Trial' at DreamWorks: Duo to team on possible Spielberg project |author=Michael Fleming, Pamela McClintock |date=2007-07-12 |work=Variety |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117968411.html |accessdate=2008-09-26] In August, 2008, Sorkin announced that he had agreed to write a script about how Facebook was invented for Sony and producer Scott Rudin. [cite news |title=Coming soon: 'Facebook: The Movie'? |author=Jessica Guynn |date=2008-08-28 |work=Los Angeles Times |url=http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-techblog28-2008aug28,0,4670260.story ]

Returning to the theatre

After some 15 years away from the theatre, Sorkin began revising his play "A Few Good Men" in 2005 for a revival at London's Theatre Royal Haymarket, a West End theatre. 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, with Rob Lowe of "The West Wing" in the lead role. [cite news |title=West End boys club: Lowe, Sorkin team for 'Good Men' revival |author=Michael Fleming |date=2005-04-24 |work=Variety |accessdate=2007-01-10 |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117921624.html ]

However, Sorkin had already begun the process of writing a fresh new play back in 2003 when he was contacted by Jocelyn Clarke, the commissions manager of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, requesting he write a play for the theater, a commission which he accepted. In time, Sorkin decided to tackle his commission by rewriting a screenplay he had sold to New Line Cinema titled "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 in 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".cite news |title='Farnsworth' fumble: Abbey drops ball on Sorkin commission |author=Karen Fricker |date=2006-02-05 |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117937383.html |work=Variety |accessdate=2008-09-26] Despite the setback, La Jolla Playhouse pushed on, with Steven Spielberg lending his talents as 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; the play ran at La Jolla Playhouse from February 20, 2007 through March 25, 2007.cite web |title=Spielberg produces 'Farnsworth Invention' on stage |date=2006-09-17 |publisher=SpielbergFilms.com |url=http://www.spielbergfilms.com/general/1076 |accessdate=2007-01-23] cite news |title=Sorkin and McAnuff Collaborate on LaJolla's 'Invention' |author=BWW News Desk |date=2006-12-15 |url=http://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=14438 |publisher=BroadwayWorld.com |accessdate=2007-01-02] [cite news |title=Azaria & Simpson Set for Farnsworth Invention; Opens 11/14 |author=BWW News Desk |date=2007-07-25 |publisher=BroadwayWorld.com |url=http://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=20240 ] A production followed on Broadway, beginning in previews at the Music Box Theatre and scheduled to open on November 14, 2007 but the play was delayed by the 2007 Broadway stagehand strike.cite web |title="Aaron Sorkin's Farnsworth Invention to Open on Broadway in November"|date=2007-06-21 |work=Playbill |url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/109037.html|accessdate=2007-06-22] [cite news |title='Invention' sparks reinvention: Sorkin's former movie pitch hits Broadway |author=Gordon Cox |date=2007-11-10 |work=Variety |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR660001116.html |accessdate=2007-11-10] "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. [cite news |title=It's Over! Labor Dispute Resolved as Stagehands Strike Ends |author=Andrew Gans |date=2007-11-28 |work=Playbill |url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/113114.html |accessdate=2008-09-25 ] [cite news |title=Farnsworth Invention Ends Broadway Run March 2 |author=Andrew Gans and Ernio Hernandez |date=2008-03-02 |work=Playbill |url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/115494.html ]

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 psychedelic-rock band The Flaming Lips's hit 2002 record "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots", collaborating with director Des McAnuff who has been developing the project. [cite news |title=Sorkin Will Script Flaming Lips Musical |author=Michael Endelman |date=2007-03-20 |work=Entertainment Weekly |url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20015535,00.html |accessdate=2007-06-09] [cite news |title=McAnuff tries northern exposure: After B'way boom, helmer sets sights on Shakespeare |author=Gordon Cox |date=2006-08-13 |work=Variety |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117948337.html |accessdate=2008-09-26] [cite news |title=Sorkin eyes Lips show: Writer mulls 'Yoshimi' musical |author=Gordon Cox |date=2007-06-24 |work=Variety |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117961571.html |accessdate=2008-09-26] 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,cite web|url=http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/480906 |title=TheStar.com entertainment Top talent in place at Stratford for 2009 |publisher=Thestar.com |date= |accessdate=2008-09-25] a translation of Checkov's The Cherry Orchard.cite web|url=http://www.new.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=33807262256&topic=5060&start=480&hash=fe2a16b9ed943597f3a762ab939abfdc |title=Questions for me? Facebook |publisher=New.facebook.com |date= |accessdate=2008-09-25]

Writing process

Sorkin has written for the theatre, film and television, and in each medium his level of collaboration with other creators has differed. 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", and 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. [cite news |title=Aaron Sorkin speaks about 'Studio 60,' the press and those pesky bloggers |author=Maureen Ryan |date=2007-01-19 |work=Chicago Tribune |url=http://tempo.typepad.com/entertainment_tv/2007/01/aaron_sorkin_sp.html |accessdate=2007-02-12 ]

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."cite web |title=Interview with Aaron Sorkin |publisher=The Writers Guild of America, East, Inc. |accessdate=2007-01-10 |format=PDF |pages=p.6 |work=On Writing Magazine, Issue 18|year=2003 |month=February |url=http://www.wgaeast.org/newsletter_and_publications/pdf/onwriting18.pdf] 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"'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". Sorkin has also noted that because he writes every episode deadlines for scripts are never met. 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." [cite news |title=Why Does Aaron Sorkin Feel So Guilty? |author=Mickey Rapkin |date=2008-08-12 |work=GQ |url=http://men.style.com/gq/blogs/gqeditors/2008/08/why-does-aaron.html |accessdate=2008-09-26]

Sorkin's nearly decade-long collaboration in television with director Thomas Schlamme began in early 1998 when they found they shared common creative ground on the soon to be produced "Sports Night". [cite web |title=Interview with Thomas Schlamme, Director and Executive Producer, "Sports Night" |author=Elif Cercel |date=1999-11-11 |work=Directors World |url=http://b4a.healthyinterest.net/news/archives/1999/11/interview_with.html |accessdate=2007-01-21] 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 the budget meetings; Sorkin tends to stick strictly to writing the scripts of which he writes almost all of them in their entirety with other writers frequently appearing in the "Story by" credit and occasionally the "Written by" credit.

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". 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.

Writing characteristics

Sorkin is known for writing memorable lines and fast-paced dialogue, as well as extended monologues for prominent characters,Fact|date=October 2008 such as the "I am God" piece from "Malice",Fact|date=October 2008 the "You can't handle the truth!" piece from "A Few Good Men",Fact|date=October 2008 and the partly Latin tirade against God in "The West Wing" episode "Two Cathedrals". 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. [cite news |title=West Wing votes in new writers |date=2003-07-25 |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3095619.stm |accessdate=2007-01-25 ]

Although his scripts are lauded for being literate, [cite news |title=Malice: A Film Review |author=James Berardinelli |year=1993 |publisher=Reelviews.net |url=http://www.reelviews.net/movies/m/malice.html |accessdate=2007-01-10] Sorkin has been criticized for often turning in scripts that are overwrought. [cite news |title=‘Studio 60’ doesn't take comedy seriously: Show's flailing by focusing on issues, not craziness of the writers' room |author=Linda Holmes |date=2006-11-26 |publisher=MSNBC.com |url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15640559/ |accessdate=2007-01-25] His mentor William Goldman 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. Others complain that his use of dialogue is excessive and is cover for weak story arcs in his scripts.Fact|date=October 2008

Common themes and motifs in Sorkin's works

McFarland & Company has published a collections of essays of criticism of Sorkin's works by various writers and a book of criticism of "The West Wing" by Melissa Crawley: the essay collection is titled "Considering Aaron Sorkin: Essays on the Politics, Poetics and Sleight of Hand in the Films and Television Series" and Crawley's book is titled "Mr. Sorkin Goes to Washington: Shaping the President on Television's the West Wing". [cite book |title=Considering Aaron Sorkin: Essays on the Politics, Poetics and Sleight of Hand in the Films and Television Series |editor=Thomas Fahy |publisher=McFarland & Company |date=2005-01-11 |isbn=978-0786421206] [cite book |title=Mr. Sorkin Goes to Washington: Shaping the President on Television's the West Wing |author=Melissa Crawley |publisher=McFarland & Company |date=2006-02-28 |isbn=978-0786424399] A collection of essays about "The West Wing" has been published by Syracuse University Press as a book titled "The West Wing: The American Presidency as Television Drama". [cite book |title=The West Wing: The American Presidency as Television Drama |editor=Peter C. Rollins and John E. Connor |year=2003 |month=May |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=978-0815630319]

Personal life

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

A consistent supporter of the Democratic Party, Sorkin has made substantial political campaign contributions to Democratic candidates between the years 1999 and 2007, according to CampaignMoney.com. [cite web |title=Aaron Sorkin Biography and Political Campaign Contributions |publisher=CampaignMoney.com |url=http://www.campaignmoney.com/biography/aaron_sorkin.asp |accessdate=2007-01-29] During the 2004 US presidential election campaign, the liberal advocacy group MoveOn's political action committee enlisted Sorkin and Rob Reiner to create one of their anti-Bush campaign advertisements. [cite news |title=I'm Rob Reiner, and I Approve this Message |author=Matthew Cooper |date=2004-07-03 |work=Time |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101040712-660923,00.html |accessdate=2007-01-29] In August 2008, Sorkin was involved in a Generation Obama event at the Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills, California, participating in a panel discussion subsequent to a screening of Frank Capra's "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington". [cite news |title=Obama's fresh Hollywood faces: Hollywood team: Vitality and donations |author=Ted Johnson |date=2008-08-28 |work=Variety |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117991314.html |accessdate=2008-09-15 ]

In 1987, Sorkin started experimenting with marijuana and cocaine. He has said that in freebase 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.cite news |title = West Wing creator brings his play to West End | author = Jay Rayner | date = 2005-07-31 |work=Guardian Unlimited | url = http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,11710,1525148,00.html | accessdate = 2007-01-14]

In 2001, Sorkin along with colleagues John Spencer and Martin Sheen received the Phoenix Rising Award for their personal victories over substance abuse. [cite news | title = ‘West Wing’-ers honored by Phoenix for abuse recovery | author = Borys Kit | date = |work=The Hollywood Reporter | url = http://b4a.healthyinterest.net/news/000059.html | accessdate = 2007-01-27] 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, and crack cocaine in his carry-on bag when a metal crack pipe set off the gate’s metal detector. [cite news |title=The Crack-Up |author=Michael Cieply |work=Talk |date=September 2001 ] He was ordered to a drug diversion program.cite news | title = Aaron Sorkin Says He Used Drugs |publisher=Associated Press | url = http://b4a.healthyinterest.net/news/2001_08.html|accessdate=2007-06-07] "Saturday Night Live" parodied the highly publicized event in a comedy sketch called "The West Wing" where the U.S. President played by Darrell Hammond does a "Walk and Talk" through the corridors of the White House while tripping on mushrooms, accompanied by host Pierce Brosnan.cite video | title = The West Wing | people = Pierce Brosnan, Darrell Hammond | date = May 5, 2001 | medium = Comedy Sketch | url = http://snltranscripts.jt.org/00/00rwestwing.phtml | location = New York | publisher = Saturday Night Live | accessdate = 2007-01-27]

Sorkin continued working on "The West Wing". Sorkin's wife filed for divorce soon after.Fact|date=October 2008 There have been no public reports of any further drug use.cite news |title=Prodigal Returns, Bearing Dialogue |author=Bruce Weber |date=2007-11-04 |work=The New York Times |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/theater/04webe.html |accessdate=2008-09-31 |quote='I’ve been healthy for six and a half years,' he said. 'But like any addict I’m one phone call away from that not being true.']

He has dated Kristin Chenoweth, the actress who played Annabeth Schott on "The West Wing".Fact|date=September 2008 He has also reportedly dated Maureen Dowd. [cite news |title=Sex & the Single Stiletto |author=Howard Kurtz |date=2005-11-05 |work=The Washington Post |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/04/AR2005110401996_pf.html | accessdate=2008-09-25]

Credits

Television series

*"Sports Night" (television series, 1998–2000; creator, writer, executive producer)
*"The West Wing" (television series, 1999–2006; creator, writer, executive producer (1999–2003))
*"Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" (television series, 2006–2007; creator, writer, executive producer)

Films

*"A Few Good Men" (1992; screenplay)
*"Malice" (1993; screenplay)
*"Schindler's List" (1993; uncredited script doctor)
*"The American President" (1995; screenplay)
*"The Rock" (1996; uncredited script doctor)
*"Excess Baggage" (1997; uncredited script doctor)
*"Bulworth" (1998; uncredited script doctor)
*"Enemy of the State" (1998; uncredited script doctor)
*"Charlie Wilson's War" (2007; screenplay)

creenplays (unproduced)

*"Ocean of Storms" (~1996; script doctor)
*"The Farnsworth Invention" (2004; screenplay)
*"The Trial of the Chicago 7" (part of a three picture deal with Dreamworks; screenplay)

Plays

*"Hidden in This Picture" (1988; playwright)cite news |title=Review/Theater; Three Plays on Desire |author=Mel Gussow |date=1988-08-24 |work=The New York Times |url=http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=940DE7D9173DF937A1575BC0A96E948260 |accessdate=2007-01-12]
*"A Few Good Men" (1989; playwright)cite news |title= Review/Theater; Honor, Bullying and Conformity in the Trial in 'A Few Good Men' |author=Frank Rich |date=1989-11-16 |work=The New York Times |url=http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=950DE4D61338F935A25752C1A96F948260 |accessdate=2007-01-12]
*"Making Movies" (1990; playwright)cite news |title=Review/Theater; 'Making Movies,' a Satire Of the Celluloid World |author=Mel Gussow |date=1990-03-28 |work=The New York Times |url=http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9C0CEFDD1139F93BA15750C0A966958260 |accessdate=2007-01-12]
*"The Farnsworth Invention" (2007, playwright)

References

Further information

*cite book |title=Considering Aaron Sorkin: Essays on the Politics, Poetics and Sleight of Hand in the Films and Television Series |editor=Thomas Fahy |publisher=McFarland & Company |date=2005-01-11|isbn=978-0786421206
*cite book |title=The West Wing Script Book |author=Aaron Sorkin |year=2002 |month=July |publisher=Newmarket Press |isbn=978-1557045492
*cite book |title=The West Wing Seasons 3 & 4: The Shooting Scripts: Eight Teleplays |author=Aaron Sorkin |year=2004 |month=February |publisher=Newmarket Press |isbn=978-1557046123
*cite web |title=Interview with Aaron Sorkin and "The West Wing" pilot script|publisher=The Writers Guild of America, East, Inc. |format=PDF |work=On Writing Magazine, Issue 18|year=2003 |month=February |url=http://www.wgaeast.org/newsletter_and_publications/pdf/onwriting18.pdf
*cite web |title=Early draft of the "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" pilot script |author=Aaron Sorkin|url=http://www.geocities.com/seekergurl/studio60.html |accessdate=2007-02-01
*cite video |people=Aaron Sorkin and Rob Reiner |title=From Stage to Screen with Aaron Sorkin and Rob Reiner, A Few Good Men (Special Edition DVD) |year=2001 |url=http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00005B6JZ/ |medium=Documentary
*Four interviews with Aaron Sorkin on The Charlie Rose Show (available at Google Video) for the years 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003.

Podcasts

*cite podcast |title=Aaron Sorkin, in his own words |date=2007-01-21 |website=TV Barn |host=Aaron Barnhart |url=http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/files/TVBP8.mp3

External links

*imdb name|0815070
* [http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=33807262256 Aaron Sorkin] at Facebook
*

Persondata
NAME= Sorkin, Aaron Benjamin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= American Screenwriter, Producer, Playwright
DATE OF BIRTH= June 9, 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH= New York, NY, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=