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Grabbing 60 with Sorkin
During a visit to the set of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, creator Aaron Sorkin takes time to sock it to the Times of L.A. and New York.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007 at 6:20 PM
By Shelley Gabert
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Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage.com
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Never at a loss for words
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Despite all the talk about NBC's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip being a ratings disappointment, award-winning writer Aaron Sorkin seemed in great spirits today during a set visit attended by FilmStew.
Taking an hour break from shooting Episode 16, he and the cast welcomed press on the elaborate set constructed by Warner Bros. While Sorkin says he is proud that the show arrived last fall with such high expectations, he was also extremely candid in dealing with some of the articles that have beaten the show to death.
Citing Los Angeles Times writers Maria Elena Fernandez and Scott Collins, he admitted that he took great issue with some of their stories, along with the piece by Deborah Netburn on Christmas Day that suggested most comedy writers in Hollywood don't take kindly to the show. "She interviewed [a member of the Los Angeles improv group] Employee of the Month, and if you look at their web site, you'll find that most of them are unemployed," he insists. "And we were nominated for a Writer's Guild Award as well.”
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Steve Granitz/WireImage.com
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Golden Globe nominee Sarah Paulson
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While Sorkin accepts the criticism that the show comes off to some viewers as too smug or arrogant – even though he personally doesn't necessarily agree with the assessment - he deems Tinseltown’s major newspaper as shameful for printing such stories. He also took the New York Times Bill Carter to task for constantly quoting bloggers.
"We live in the age of amateurs, and we can all go on the Internet and find people to say mean things about any show," he says. "But everybody's voice ought not to be equal."
Tired of Studio 60 being labeled an "insider's show,” Sorkin believes he's simply going for a behind-the-scenes narrative here like he did on The West Wing. "Viewers are saturated with the red carpet phenomenon and Entourage is about that," he suggests. "But you don't see a writer's room on television much.”
Sorkin seems confident that the show will be renewed. Studio 60, he says, is the number one time-shifted show, which means that more TiVo owners tape this program than any other show. But since Nielsen assumes that those viewers fast forward through the commercials, they don't count them. But they are likely affluent and well-educated individuals, and as such constitute a coveted audience for advertisers.
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Michael Caufield/WireImage.com
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Golden Globe attendee Matthew Perry, flanked by Molly Sims and Sheryl Crow
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"Compared to Sports Night [Sorkin's critically acclaimed half-hour ABC show], I'm delighted with the ratings of Studio 60," he maintains. "If all we ever hear about is ratings, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."
Sorkin continues to read a lot of the criticism directed at the show, but he's still determined to do Studio 60 the way he wants to. "I try not to let too many voices into my head,” he offers wryly.
Studio 60 kicks off with a new episode next Monday, January 22nd, part of a block of eight fresh installments. Sorkin hints that the relationship between Matt Albie (Matthew Perry) and Harriet Hayes (Sarah Paulson) will be on, and then off, and then on again. He also confesses that his real-life girlfriend Kristin Chenoweth (RV), a devout Christian from Broken Arrow, OK, directly inspired Paulson's character.
It's clear that Studio 60 is Sorkin's baby, but he has also found the time to write the screenplay for the Mike Nichols film Charlie Wilson's War, starring the first-time tandem of Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. Based on George Crile's 2003 book about a Texas Congressman who gets himself tangled up in Afghanistan – a character Star-Telegram columnist Molly Irvins dubs a “blue collar James Bond” – the Christmas 2007 release will also feature Philip Seymour Hoffman as a CIA operative.
Meanwhile, Sorkin is also returning to his roots as a playwright with The Farnsworth Invention, which tells the story of television inventor Philo Farnsworth and his battle with David Sarnoff, future President of NBC but then the young head of RCA. Originally a film script, it has been rewritten for the stage by Sorkin and will premiere on February 20th at the La Jolla Playhouse.
With his hands in plays, screenplays and television, Sorkin still finds episodic television to be the hardest art form. "When I'm writing a film, I can always call the studio and say, 'It's not going well,' or, 'I need another month,' and they're usually understanding,” he reveals. “With series television, I can't do that, and that's what makes it hard. But I love it, and I love what we're doing on the show."
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