10 Screenwriting Tips Aaron Sorkin - Masterclass Interview on The Social Network and A Few Good Men
Oscar nominated screenwriter Aaron Sorkin interview masterclass about writing, screenwriting, lessons from the screenplay and dialogue in The West Wing, A Few Good Men, The Newsroom and The Social Network screenplay.
0:00 - Intro
0:28 - tip 1 - There are rules. They were written over 2000 years ago by Aristotle
0:46 - tip 2 - Learn from other writers, but in the end, stick to your own voice
2:31 - tip 3 - Figure out why you like or dislike a movie
3:33 - tip 4 - Show the audience what the character wants. That want is going to define who he/she is
4:39 - tip 5 - Speak your dialogue out loud, that way you will be sure dialogue is speakable by an actor
5:46 - tip 6 - Writing takes practice
6:22 - tip 7 - it's not that important what your characters are talking about, it's important that the audience says "wow these guys really know what they're talking about"
7:07 - tip 8 - Avoid cliche storylines and think of a unique approach to structure your story
8:46 - tip 9 - Have your own writing quirks. Sorkin likes to drive around, listen to music and take showers 6-8 times a day
11:06 - tip 10 - Have a breathtaking story on how you first fell in love with writing
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#aaronsorkin #screenplay #writing #screenwriting #screenwriter #writingadvice
What I find most amazing about Sorkin is how he wrote A Few Good Men without being ex-military, a lawyer, or a doctor. Or to write The American President without a career in government. Such insight and empathy.
That's genuinely interesting.
His sister was a JAG lawyer and that’s where the motivation for A few good men originated.
The Social Network was one of the few movies with realistic portrayals of computers. Wget, perl, etc. Most films are nonsense with computers, I was very impressed with the research.
Because the best films are about characters needs, wants, desires, and the human obstacles that can keep them from getting it, kill them, incarcerate time, etc. The humanistic aspect is what’s best about film and art and humans fight for that in various settings such as military and court rooms.
I love his passion for writing because you can really hear it in his voice.
Why do we love Aaron Sorkin?.... Because he gets on base
Do we care if he walks? We do not.
You can't handle the truth
Speaking your dialogue out loud is a great tip, this is something I have always done from the moment I started writing, because we've all had those moments when your talking to someone and you say something out loud and you go, "That sounded so much better in my head," so why wouldn't that apply to writing? It does. You can write something and be happy or at least satisficed with it and read it again a hundred times (if you're a little obsessive like I am) and not see a problem, but you say it out loud once and you realize, "Oh, my God, that's terrible." It's a great tip and not just for dialogue, but anything you write, an interaction, an environment, a situation, it applies to everything.
I don't want to talk about the writers, directors and screen writers like the most comments in this thread. I want to thank the uploader of these 📹 for his effort, time and insight.
Dammit! How could this have happened?
😀💯🙌✅
Laughing... That will be his "Tag Line" as long as he is alive. He is such a great Artist (screenwriter)... or is that scriptwriter?
Extremely inspirational.
Love your screenwriting videos but I will say maybe make the music in the background a little lower next time 👍🏻 as it's hard to focus on the person speaking about the subject they are talking about.
Even no background music would be better.. it's so banal idk when this gonna change on KZhead videos..
Exactly...
Please listen to what this man is saying. I struggled to get thru this video and I love Sorkin.
Thanks for creating this!
Mate your channel is underrated.
Awesome tips!
Great videos keep makin'em
“The Rules of Drama are older than Christianity”
Yeah, they were referred to when writing the Bible
Not true
And get just as perverted and corrupted.
i love that he is dressing like a screenwriter from the old hollywood days 😃😃😃
"Needed to Mountain Dew it up" hahaha
The shower thing is strangely intrinsic. I always have the shower in the back of my mind as a fresh reset... Too funny.
Great material. This movie can have a better ending, as I see it now.
This man is a genius
Thank u
"six to eight showers a day...for a fresh start". Yikes! OCD? Remember Jack Nicholson playing a best selling novelist with OCD in As Good As It Gets? Whatever gets you to the finish line I guess. Is there a connection between good writers and their rituals? I guess I should have waited. The ninth tip answers my own question. I also like that he uses modesty well to avoid puffery.
40 showers is OCD, not 6 or 7.
Agreed! Learn and don’t get offended!:)
2:49 he says doo doo
brilliant observation
He is one of the best writers in the world in my opinion.
Skateboard and mountain dew it up when he wrote about small group of students fromHarvard... Who virtually brought the world together. #bajablast
such a great video, but the music detracts
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@5:00 why was the first rule changed?
I would love to LISTEN to Aaron Sorkin... ... but the BACKGROUND (Noise) Music is too LOUD!
Agree with a lot but #10 is really stupid. that being said, I do have a great story on how I fell in love with writing.
There is no such a good story, there is no values of #10
What do you do do ??
My plan is simple . Finish . Mail to the Writers Guild of America , east and west . Repeat .
If I remember correctly... they only allow you to send it to either East or West... Not both... and it cost to do that too... I need to find out for sure.
the unrelenting background music is like a drill bit into the head
OH MY GOSH... I'm so glad I'm not the only one that feels that way!!!
Is Aristotle's Work As Chang Zongyu Important ?
Does His Mother Plato Deserve Dignity ?
This feels like a list of actual screenwriter tips, instead of writer-director tips.
I've got nice movie stories/pitch but failed to build u a good script
13:53...so it's not just me...
10:46 possible #11, it might be easier to write with coke.
How did you get him to say all these things while only on the right hand side of the screen? lol
Soundtrack is annoying...
YES... the background music is too loud.
6-8 showers a day. He must have mad eczema. Still brilliant tho!
The top 3 I learned from him: 1. aaaaa 2. aaaaaa 3. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
AA AAA AAAA
One of the most brilliant writers of his generation. I didn’t know he was also supposed to be one of the greatest public speakers of his generation, too.
#2 is his weakness. He's great for one style of character - the genius who can rattle off facts and statistics. But outside of that he struggles. Studio 60 failed because he couldn't write comedy. The GOAT of writing intellectual dialogue but weak out of that area.
Deshaun Watson
Lose the background music.
Oh to not be in a water crisis🙃
The only reason to learn the rules is so you can break em.
日啊有俄
Write a new original .
李哦俄 分两枚
The bite-sized leg inadvertently trick because secretary chiefly gather during a ratty good-bye. bitter, misty possibility
What is the massively irritating musical jumble going on in the background? It is distracting, disrespectful of Sorkin's advice, of the man himself and frankly just stupid. What morons turn out these stupid jumbles? Surely Sorkin had nothing to do with it. Like the rest of us, he is well aware that screenwriting advice does not need a musical accompaniment.
I couldn't make it past the first 6 seconds.
uh what uh uh terrible uh uh uh speaker uh.
Who cares. I can still understand him.
"I take about 6-8 showers a day" Don't fucking do that. What a waste of water. Just so you can "have a fresh start"? Oo, that pissed me off.
Yes! More judgement please! Just what the world needed, thank you!
He is teasing... Lord get a grip!
Take showers
I’m watching this so that I know what not to do. Aaron Sorkin has some of the most boring, predictable characters and stupid dialogue I’ve ever seen.
Well, as long as we don’t see your name in the writing credits of an acclaimed movie or two.. my advice to you is to best keep that opinion to yourself. Be humble and learn from all writers.
@@stevendufour Guys like Sorkin and those he mentioned get industry breaks and b/c of the resources allotted to them are eventually labelled "masterminds" through the same media that made them.
Well, fair enough if you see it that way, but it seems to sell, so it's worth investigating what people like about his writing, and take away whatever helps you. Like Bruce Lee said, "Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is essentially your own"
Ok, so: "There aren't rules." "Don't learn from other writers. Don't stick to your own voice." "Don't try to figure out why you liked it disliked a show or movie." "Don't show the audience what the character wants, cuz it won't define who they are." "Don't speak your dialog aloud." "Writing doesn't take practice" "Go for cliche stories. Avoid unique approaches" Sounds a bit fucking stupid, doesn't it, bruv?
out of curiosity, who do you like?
Agreed! Learn and don’t get offended!:)