The script Aaron Sorkin is crafting for a film about Steve Jobs will be comprised of just three scenes, the Academy Award-winning screenwriter said Thursday.
The scenes will all take place backstage before three of Jobs’ most important product launches: the original Macintosh; NeXT, which was the start-up Jobs created after leaving Apple; and the iPod.
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#aaron sorkin #steve jobsI know it’s old…but it’s so good.
Aaron Sorkin writes a meeting of Barack Obama and Jed Bartlet:
OBAMA I appreciate your sense of humor, sir, but I really could use your advice.
BARTLET Well, it seems to me your problem is a lot like the problem I had twice.
OBAMA Which was?
BARTLET A huge number of Americans thought I thought I was superior to them.
OBAMA And?
BARTLET I was.
OBAMA I mean, how did you overcome that?
BARTLET I won’t lie to you, being fictional was a big advantage.
Sports Night is one of my favorite TV shows and easily the most Sorkin-y show that was ever Sorkin-y (read: people walk and talk while repeating themselves and others). He spoke a bit about the show in a recent GQ article:
“GQ: Sports Night ran for just two years. I gotta say, It always seemed like a weird fit for ABC.
AS: Yeah. Sports Night was on right between The Drew Carey Show and Spin City. ABC would tell me, “You’re losing 20 percent of Drew Carey’s audience.” I would tell them, “I don’t think so. I think I’m losing 100 percent of Drew Carey’s audience.”
GQ: Sports Night ends with a classic line: “Anybody who can’t make money off of Sports Night should get out of the moneymaking business.” Zing!
AS: I’m not crazy about stepping outside the show and winking at the audience. But it felt good to write it. And the crew liked listening to it.
GQ: So much of Sports Night was about fathers. I remember watching one scene in which a dad rejects his son’s ringside seats to a boxing match because he thinks his kid is showing off, and thinking that had to have come from real life.
AS: Oh yeah. My father was an intellectual-property lawyer. He was born in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, fought in World War II on the GI Bill. The greasier side of this business turns him off. And ought to. My father is the reason why I tend to write as idealistically and romantically as I do. He is a guy who has one foot in the last century. He’s out to civilize people—but with great wit and humor.”
I already own the series on DVD, but I’m clearly going to have to buy the special edition set.
Brilliant But Cancelled: Comedies And Dramedies That Were Axed Too Soon
So many great shows get axed. Poor Judy Greer has at least three shows on this list. I’m still sad that Sports Night (above) lost its lease. It was created by Aaron Sorkin, the man behind The West Wing, A Few Good Men and Charlie Wilson’s War, to name a few. Unfortunately, his pedigree wasn’t enough to keep the network from arbitrarily tacking a laugh track onto his show despite it not being a straight comedy. The laughter was left off of the second season, but by then it was already too late.
I’d like to ask the people who say government’s bad what they think of the Department of Veteran’s Affairs. When we’re fighting two wars, should they get more money or less? And where is that money going to come from – magic or taxes?
Aaron Sorkin discusses creating the impression of sophistication with dialogue.
AKA How to get away with having smart people say smart things on network television.
“Eli’s Coming” by Three Dog Night
(Words/Music: Laura Nyro, Album: Suitable For Framing, Dunhill Records 1969)
Leave it to Aaron Sorkin to introduce me to one of the coolest songs I have ever heard. Let me explain.
It seems that the writer of such quick-witted films as A Few Good Men and Charlie Wilson’s War and the TV series “West Wing” used to stay up late while he was writing the screenplay for American President. And what did he do while he was writing and working through ideas? He watched ESPN’s SportsCenter. Because a creative mind like Sorkin’s is always working, he began developing a TV series about producing a sports highlight show called “Sports Night.” And although it only lasted two seasons, and I don’t think I ever saw a single episode before it went off the air, it quickly became one of my favorite shows via the reruns on Comedy Central. Becoming riveted by the quick-paced show’s witty dialog and complex plots (almost unheard of for a 30 minute “sitcom”), season one ended with a a show called “Eli’s Coming” and one of the main characters referenced the song in the show, indicating that he thought it was about impending doom. (Watch the episode on YouTube - it will be the best 22 minutes of your day) He and the other sports anchor get into a bit of a debate about the meaning of the song, the second anchor (Peter Krause from “Six Feet Under”) claimed it was about the deserved downfall of a womanizer. That single 30 second debate was enough to have me hunting down the song. I guess I am naturally attracted to songs which can have multiple interpretations. At that point, I had only known Three Dog Night for their bigger hits like “Joy To The World” and “Mama Told Me Not To Come.” “Eli’s Coming,” with its eerie opening, funky rhythms, and vocal harmonies, is one of the more complex songs in the Three Dog Night catalog. And every time I hear it, I run to my computer and watch me some “Sports Night.”
More Three Dog Night: AmazonMP3 - last.fm - AllMusic - eMusic
In one short decade we have been reconditioned to be entertained by the most private areas of other people’s lives. We’ve become the family dog who’s allowed to eat anything that falls on the floor, and the press is the little kid in the family who keeps dropping food.
Ainsley Hayes: Mr. Tribby? I’d like to do well on this, my first assignment. Any advice you could give me that might point me the way of success would be, by me, appreciated.
Lionel Tribby: <pause> Well not speaking in iambic pentameter might be a step in the right direction.
Ainsley Hayes: Ya.
