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Aaron Sorkin

One of the biggest challenges in the past for me in working on the networks was that audiences have grown accustomed to television being something that keeps you company-background music, something that you have on while you’re flipping through a magazine, cooking dinner, talking on the phone, putting the kids to bed.

One of the biggest challenges in the past for me in … Read More

I’m a playwright. All I care about is the play being good.

I’m a playwright. All I care about is the play being … Read More

Honestly, I don’t try to guess at what most people want. I don’t think I’d guess right, and I just think that that’s not a good recipe for storytelling. I try to write what I like, what I think my friends would like.

Honestly, I don’t try to guess at what most people want. … Read More

The stuff that I write doesn’t work very well as background music. You have to watch it from beginning to end and pay attention as if you were watching a play.

The stuff that I write doesn’t work very well as background … Read More

Never argue with a drunk or a fool.

Never argue with a drunk or a fool. Aaron Sorkin

It wouldn’t kill you to watch a film or pick up a newspaper once in a while.

It wouldn’t kill you to watch a film or pick up … Read More

There’s a great tradition in storytelling that’s thousands of years old, telling stories about kings and their palaces, and that’s really what I wanted to do.

There’s a great tradition in storytelling that’s thousands of years old, … Read More

I got into dialogue because my parents began taking me to see plays from when I was very young. Too young, often, to understand the play I was watching: Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf when I was nine years old; That Championship Season when I was ten years old. But I loved the sound of dialogue; it sounded like music to me and I wanted to imitate that sound.

I got into dialogue because my parents began taking me to … Read More

I do enjoy the fact that we don’t have a king or queen; we have a person with a very unusual temp job for a few years. My favorite moments on the show were always showing the intersection of the person and the job. Any time Bartlet from the West Wing could be something other than the president – a father, or a husband, or a son, or a friend.

I do enjoy the fact that we don’t have a king … Read More

Television from its inception had the number one goal to alienate as few people as possible. That’s why if you look at 1950s, 1960s American sitcoms, the characters don’t live any place in particular, religion is never discussed, politics is never discussed, you never really know what anyone’s job is; nothing that could make these people seem different from you is ever discussed.

Television from its inception had the number one goal to alienate … Read More

Pretty much up until The West Wing, our leaders had always been portrayed in popular culture as either Machiavellian or dolts. But I thought, “What if we show a group of people who are highly competent, they’re going to lose as much as they win, but we’re going to understand that they wake up every morning wanting to do good?” That was really the spirit behind The West Wing.

Pretty much up until The West Wing, our leaders had always … Read More

The Monica Lewinsky scandal was happening at the very time I was writing the West Wing pilot and it was hard, at least for Americans, to look at the White House and think of anything but a punch line. Plus a show about politics, a show that took place in Washington, had just never worked before in American television. So the show was delayed for a year.

The Monica Lewinsky scandal was happening at the very time I … Read More

The hardest thing for me is getting started. If I’m writing a script, really 90 per cent of it would be just walking around, climbing the walls, just trying to put the idea together. Then the final 10 per cent would be writing it.

The hardest thing for me is getting started. If I’m writing … Read More

I’m terribly afraid of failure. When your identity is wrapped up in writing and you’ve written something that doesn’t work, it’s a tough pill to swallow.

I’m terribly afraid of failure. When your identity is wrapped up … Read More

I wrote the show West Wing for the two years before and the two years after 9/11. Suddenly everyone in the world had been through something that our characters had not been through; the whole trajectory of the world had changed. Yet our show took place in a parallel universe. I wasn’t really sure what to do about this. In no one’s wildest dreams did it occur that an event like this could possibly happen.

I wrote the show West Wing for the two years before … Read More

Make no mistake about it, you are dumb. You’re a group of incredibly well-educated dumb people. I was there. We all were there. You’re barely functional. There are some screw-ups headed your way. I wish I could tell you that there was a trick to avoiding the screw-ups, but the screw-ups, they’re a-coming for ya. It’s a combination of life being unpredictable, and you being super dumb.

Make no mistake about it, you are dumb. You’re a group … Read More

I have a lot of respect for people who are great at ad-libbing, and for writers and directors who are able to create a scene in which that works.

I have a lot of respect for people who are great … Read More

Decisions are made by those who show up. Don’t ever forget that you’re a citizen of this world.

Decisions are made by those who show up. Don’t ever forget … Read More

The guy who wins the Oscar for Best Actor has a much higher bar to clear than the woman who wins best actress.

The guy who wins the Oscar for Best Actor has a … Read More

You know, one of the things I like about this world, or at least I like about the way we’re presenting this world, is these issues are terribly complicated – not nearly as black and white as we’re led to believe.

You know, one of the things I like about this world, … Read More

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