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.
Aaron SorkinRead
I'll get cast occasionally as sort of the jerk version of myself, and I have fun doing that. But it's really better for everyone if I stay behind the camera.
Interpretation
Sorkin reflects on his preference to create behind the camera rather than being in front of it as a performer.
Aaron Sorkin expresses a self-awareness about his persona, suggesting that while he enjoys playing a certain type of character, he believes that his true contribution lies in his writing and directing. This highlights the importance of knowing one's strengths and choosing the role that best contributes to the collective artistic vision.
In practice
In a filmmakers' panel discussing the best roles for writers.
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.
The upside of web-based journalism is that everybody gets a chance. The downside is that everybody gets a chance.
Decisions are made by those who show up. Don't ever forget that you're a citizen of this world.
Good writers borrow from other writers. Great writers steal from them outright.
With 'The Social Network,' I got into it at first because frankly I thought there was a cool courtroom drama to be had with the intellectual properties. And then what further drew me in was that the most extraordinary social networking device ever created was created by the world's most antisocial person. I liked that story.
Tell me what you think and then tell me what the really smart person in the room who disagrees with you thinks.
There's something about the sound of a train that's very romantic and nostalgic and hopeful.
Perhaps I abandoned criticism because I am full of contradictions, and when you write an essay, you are not supposed to contradict yourself. But in the theater, by inventing various characters, you can. My characters are contradictory not only in their language but in their behavior as well.
This proves that great lyric poetry can die, be reborn, die again, but will always remain one of the most outstanding creations of the human soul.
Maybe the theatre isn't any place for a reasonable human being after all. It keeps your emotions in such a constant state of upheaval. It's really terribly wearing. I wonder if I could stand it, one emotional upset after the other just going on and on for the rest of my life.
Bop began with Jazz but one afternoon somewhere on a sidewalk maybe 1939, 1940, Dizzy Gillespie or Charlie Parker or Thelonious Monk was walking past a men's clothing store on 42nd Street or South Main in L.A. and from a loudspeaker they suddenly heard a wild impossible mistake in jazz that could only have been heard inside their own imaginary head, and that is a new art. Bop.
Music straightjackets a poem and prevents it from breathing on its own, whereas it liberates a lyric. Poetry doesn't need music; lyrics do.
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