The Profile Dossier: Aaron Sorkin, the Mastermind Behind America's Favorite Films
"Decisions are made by those who show up."
As a complement to the regular Sunday newsletter, the Profile Dossier is a comprehensive deep-dive on a prominent individual. The dossier editions are only available to paying subscribers.
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If Aaron Sorkin hadn't been bored in a New York City studio apartment one night, he never would've become an acclaimed screenwriter, director, and playwright.
And we would've never gotten to enjoy shows like The West Wing and The Newsroom and films like A Few Good Men, The Social Network, Molly's Game, and most recently, The Trial of the Chicago 7.
In the summer of 1983, Sorkin had graduated from college and moved to New York with a dream to make it big on Broadway — as an actor. To make ends meet, he worked a series of what he calls "survival jobs," including bartending, ticket-taking, telemarketing, limo driving, and dressing up as a moose to pass out leaflets in a mall.
He was sharing a studio with several other people in the city. When his roommates were gone one night, Sorkin was left by himself. “It was one of those Friday nights where it feels like everybody’s been invited to a party and you haven’t,” Sorkin says.
The television and stereo were both broken, so Sorkin began to search for something to alleviate his boredom. He turned to a semi-automatic typewriter that a journalist friend had left with him. He inserted a piece of paper and began writing a play — about a struggling actor — that loosely mirrored his life. The hours flew by, and he realized he had been writing all night.
This moment changed his entire career trajectory.
“That was the very first time I wrote for pleasure, for any reason other than a chore,” he says. “Honestly, I feel like that night has never ended. It’s still that night, and I’ve just kept on going.”
But as his star rose, he kept a big, ugly secret under wraps: He was addicted to cocaine. Through the 1990s, his drug addiction spiraled out of control until things came crashing down in 2001.
The West Wing was in its second season when Sorkin was arrested at the airport for possession of marijuana, magic mushrooms, and crack cocaine.
“With cocaine, you always feel like you're a rock star, and everything you're writing is fantastic,” he says. “When I got clean, I was terrified of writing. I didn’t think I could do it at all.”
Below, we learn how Sorkin overcame his addiction, his insecurities, and his own reputation of greatness.
READ.
On battling addiction: Although this profile centers around Sorkin's production of The Social Network, it delves into his earlier years of battling addiction. “I had what they call a ‘high bottom,’” he says. “My life didn’t fall apart before I got into rehab. I didn’t lose my job or run over a kid or injure anyone when I was high. But the hardest thing I do every day is not take cocaine. You don’t get cured of addiction—you’re just in remission.” For many years, Sorkin was afraid he wouldn't be able to write well if he wasn't dependent on drugs.
On living up to greatness: Sorkin is hyper-aware that each film's success will be measured against the unfairly high bar of his own past work. "I'm proud that when I write something, expectations are high," he says, "but it's not an advantage." He's under constant pressure to perform, and it makes it hard for him to experiment with new genres. "Whether it's an episode of television, a movie or a play, I always feel like my life depends on writing something good," he says, "and in a very real way, it does."
WATCH.
On how Sorkin's brain works: This short video breaks down the filmmaking process for the film, The Trial Of The Chicago 7. It walks you through the decisions Sorkin had to make at every step in the writing and directing process. He explains why he didn't want any hippie or psychedelic imagery for a story that took place in the 1960s, why the sound is the underrated element that takes a film from good to great, and the historical "truths" he chose to emphasize.
On how he wrote 'The Social Network:' There were two lawsuits brought against Facebook around the same time, and the plaintiffs and defendants ended up telling three different versions of the story. When Sorkin was writing The Social Network, he didn't want to pick one version of the truth. "I liked that there were three different, and oftentimes conflicting, versions of the truth. I wanted to tell all three versions." Here's how he masterfully produced a film full of intent, obstacle, and unreliable narrators.
On honing his craft: In this interview, Sorkin makes an important distinction: "The properties of people and the properties of character have almost nothing to do with each other," he says. The rules of drama, Sorkin adds, are quite different from the properties of real life. Although he gets inspiration from events in the real world, his writing is romantic and idealistic. Here's how he uses the creative process to develop character, conflict, voice, dialogue, and intent.
LISTEN.
On the creative principles of screenwriting: In this podcast, Sorkin talks about his mentor William Goldman, who taught him that the first 15 pages of the script and the last 15 minutes of a movie are the most important. "If the last 15 minutes are great, you'll send the audience out whistling," Sorkin says. "If you have a first great 15 pages, you'll have hooked the director reading it." He also explains his creative process using examples from his scripts for The Social Network, Steve Jobs, and The West Wing.
On his writing origins (starts at 55:00): Sorkin never thought he would be a screenwriter — he wanted to be an actor. "Until I got out of college, writing was just a chore to be gotten through a school assignment," he says. "I had never written for pleasure before." And then one night changed everything. "In this apartment was a semi-automatic typewriter," he says. "The TV was broken, the stereo was broken. The only thing to do is to put a piece of paper in that typewriter and start typing."
TECHNIQUES TO TRY.
Creativity requires motion: Even though Sorkin has been writing for decades, the process hasn't gotten any easier. "I have two gears," he says. "'I'm stuck, I've got nothing,' and 'It's going well.'" To get un-stuck, Sorkin becomes physical. He reads the lines out loud, paces around, takes a shower, or takes a long walk. He was once so absorbed role-playing a scene from The Newsroom that he lunged into a mirror and broke his nose. "If I get excited about something — which doesn't happen very often when I'm writing, but it's the greatest feeling when it does — I'll be out of the chair and walking around, and if I'm at home, I'll find myself two blocks from my house," he says. You can't get new ideas staring at a blank page. Creativity requires motion.
Focus on conflict and intent: If you want to become a screenwriter, a playwright, or an author, Sorkin says you need to make sure you have a compelling story first. He has a simple test: You don’t have a story unless you can use the words 'but,' 'except,' or 'and then,' which means an obstacle has been introduced and now there’s conflict. In other words, you need to ask yourself: "What does this character want, and what is standing in their way of getting it?" Focusing on conflict and intent makes your writing better because it introduces friction and tension. You don't have to tell the audience who a character is, but rather, you can show them what a character wants.
Surround yourself with interesting people: You never know where your next idea will come from. That's why Sorkin suggests surrounding yourself with people who have different opinions, beliefs, and perspective from you. When he was writing the screenplay for Steve Jobs, he met with Lisa Brennan-Jobs, and that meeting changed the thrust of his entire script. Research is important, but the best research is done by talking to people and doing in-person interviews.
Structure can make you more creative: Sorkin believes that rules augment creativity. His bible for storytelling is Aristotle’s Poetics, which outline the "rules of drama." It may sound counter-intuitive to look to rules and structure for inspiration, but here's his reasoning: Once you learn what elements are typically present in every film, only then can you deconstruct them, play with them, and re-arrange them. In other words, you can break the rules only if you know the rules.
Read out loud: No matter what you're writing, always, always read it out loud. Your ears catch mistakes and inconsistencies that your eyes might have missed.
Learn to trust your good taste: Sorkin advises against trying to guess what it is that people want. "Don't ask for a show of hands," he says. "Try your best to write what you like ... The most valuable thing you have is your own voice." If you've found your voice and honed your taste, you can start to trust your own instincts for what is deemed to be interesting, high-quality content.
QUOTES TO REMEMBER.
"Decisions are made by those who show up."
"A friend is somebody who says the same things to your face that they would say if you're not in the room."
"An artist’s job is to captivate… if we stumble into truth, we got lucky."
"Stupid people surround themselves with smart people. Smart people surround themselves with smart people who disagree with them."
"I'm not interested in the difference between good and bad, I'm interested in the differences between good and great."
"Don't ever forget that you're a citizen of this world, and there are things you can do to lift the human spirit, things that are easy, things that are free, things that you can do every day: civility, respect, kindness, character."
I love this one, Polina! Especially this quote: "Don't ask for a show of hands," he says. "Try your best to write what you like ... The most valuable thing you have is your own voice."
I really loved this read--thank you!