Aaron Sorkin: Mr. Conversation

Do you find that when listening to an articulate speaker, you not only admire that person, but you also feel connected and almost attracted to that person? Don't be alarmed, it's not as weird as it sounds. An articulate speaker is self-confident, self-assured, charismatic and creates a rapport with the audience - a connection. If you are a sucker for linguistic brilliance, you may already be a fan of (or maybe even attracted to) Aaron Sorkin.

Sorkin is an Academy and Emmy-award winning screenwriter whose works include The West Wing, A Few Good Men, Charlie Wilson's War, The Social Network, Moneyball and The Newsroom. His trademark dialogue is highly literate as well as funny, reflective, and chock full of facts. Most of us would be thrilled to sound half as lucid as one of Sorkin's fictional characters; his brand of brilliant rapid-fire dialogue makes his audience feel smarter for just having heard it. In fact, Sorkin's ability to take a complex concept and have his characters discuss it in a way that his audience understands it is one of his finest skills.

At this year's Emmy Awards on September 24th, Jeff Daniels scored his first Emmy as lead actor in a drama for his role as acclaimed but troubled news anchor Will McAvoy in Sorkin's HBO drama The Newsroom. When asked what it is like to perform Sorkin's words, Daniels admitted that after two seasons he still grapples with managing the rhythm of Sorkin's heavy-detailed dialogue:

"Every two weeks, we get 80 to 85 pages. We want it to feel like these words are just falling out of our mouths. That's the trick. But we work hard at it to make it look natural and spontaneous."

Asked about his ability to talk like one of his fictional characters, Sorkin has this to say:

"I haven't met anyone who can. When I write these things, I'm alone in a room for a very long time, and I get to rewrite them, and I get to think for a long time about what's going to be said. If I get on a roll, then I can write a conversation like that without stopping, but I can't do it when talking to a real person. That's not who I am in real life."

Over the years Aaron Sorkin has given us a vast array of sharp, witty characters who have not only mastered that snap, crackle, pop dialogue, but are able to deliver it with a blend of humor and intellect. Vulture, the entertainment destination from the team behind New York magazine, has ranked Sorkin's TV characters here. Enjoy.