Aaron Sorkin

Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Benjamin Sorkin is an American screenwriter, producer, and playwright. His works include the Broadway plays A Few Good Men and The Farnsworth Invention; the television series Sports Night, The West Wing, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and The Newsroom; and the films A Few Good Men, The American President, Charlie Wilson's War, The Social Network, Moneyball, and Steve Jobs...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScreenwriter
Date of Birth9 June 1961
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
Don't ever forget that a small group of thoughtful people can change the world, it's the only thing that ever has.
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.
I think it's up to writers to write stuff that is compelling enough that people want to watch.
It's populated by people who, by and large, have terrific communication skills. Every day is an extraordinary day. For me, it was just a great area for storytelling.
Certainly, last year we did an episode about the census and sampling versus a direct statistic. You just said the word 'census,' and people fall asleep.
Government should be a place where people can come together, and no one gets left behind. No one…gets left behind. An instrument of good.
This is a time for serious people, Bob, and your fifteen minutes are up.
People who don't know anything tend to make up fake rules, the real rules being considerably more difficult to learn.
But HBO is less interested in how many people are watching than in how much the people who are watching are liking the show. They didn't set up their business model to make writers happy. It's just a nice unintended consequence.
Any time you get two people in a room who disagree about anything, the time of day, there is a scene to be written. That's what I look for.
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.
Stupid people surround themselves with smart people. Smart people surround themselves with smart people who disagree with them.
I love writing but hate starting. The page is awfully white and it says, "You may have fooled some of the people some of the time but those days are over, giftless. I'm not your agent and I'm not your mommy. I'm a white piece of paper, you wanna dance with me?" And I really, really don't.
I send them a lot of 'West Wing' hats, and they send me a lot of White House T-shirts and that kind of thing,