West Wing War: The Battle for Credit on “In Excelsis Deo”

[@pleebianmusk]

I met Rick a while back in the UK while he was over here for a writer’s room. I think he was working on The Man in the High Castle. We all went bowling in Shoreditch and I chatted to him for ages as I was such a WW fan. He complained about Sorkin trying to take credit for his episode which went on to win the Emmy! He was still hurt by it all. Also he was quite arrogant. True story!

[@michaelfrankel8082]

Who was "quite arrogant"?

[@rachellarris2305]

Thanks for using my blog NewsCat to help inform you about this story. (I spied it 😊) You went further than I did on this part of the story. And I wrote the original blog in 2006 to preserve for historical records the terribleness of Aaron Sorkin. I feel as if my little blog helped but also that Sorkin continued to be an asshole forever. I discuss this incident a little on an episode of a podcast The West Wing Thing about the U.S. Poet Laureate. The only thing I would add, that you probably couldn’t, was Sorkin’s drug use to write scripts was at its height in the second year (another reason he was acting up online).

[@bon47ful]

Very interesting stuff. Thank you. Toby was always my heartbreaker. 💔

[@tvsbesteps]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@cdarrigo]

This was an EXCELLENT video. Well researched, written, and edited. Thank you for this

[@tvsbesteps]

Thanks! Happy you enjoyed it!

[@dspiffy]

A fair assessment.

[@tedski]

Mandy! Her name was Mandy!

[@Crossword131]

Yeah, but Mindy sucked.

[@lifelikelisa]

Her name is Nala!

[@RobbReel]

No, her name is Kate Moseley.

[@smoothlatinkid]

Love this channel and this episode -- but one minor quibble--the writing duo that Sorkin was fictionalizing on the show wasn't based on Cleveland--it was a shot at Jeff Reno and Ron Osbourne, who NBC/Warners had saddled him with. They've admitted as such, and the character's name is Ricky Tahoe (for Jeff Reno--get it? haha Aaron)

[@luisrizo8813]

Rick and Ron strike again ?

[@LucasA84]

What's her name = Mandi.

[@aVerveQuest]

What would have been nice if they paid some actual homeless people to act as doubles in the episode, giving them some income that would no doubt greatly increase their chances of survival, rather than just making money off the idea of helping homeless people

[@writeralbertlanier3434]

I'm not a TV writer- I write articles - but know quite a bit about writing in terms of the TV industry . If Cleveland 's script required a page 1 rewrite, that's one of the worst things that can happen to a script on a TV sbow. That meant Sorkin came in to rewrite it whole. Bad sign but apparently the rewrite went exceedingly well on this episode It's no wonder that Cleveland got dumped from the show. I thought Sorkin behaved badly at the Emmys and online But apparently Clevelands original draft weren't very good or well received

[@Crossword131]

As a writer, your creative use of left justification (was this formatted?!) and sporadic punctuation are in keeping with the lack of actual content or observation in your comment. How on earth are you getting paid to write?

[@writeralbertlanier3434]

@@Crossword131 Your premise is invalid. Have a nice day.

[@Crossword131]

@@writeralbertlanier3434 My premise - if I need/have one - is that I have been writing for legacy media (30+yrs,) crafted nationally-broadcast ad campaigns. And built new media departments at 2 agencies, 1 museum and a security firm. I've written direct mail garbage that gets thrown instantly into the trash, But I've got outdoor boards that are still standing 20yrs later, refreshed every season. I've won a ton of industry awards. For writing Web, trad, print, guérilla, radio, TV and live events. *_I've been paid for writing._* My premise is that this sample insufficient to convince me (or any other neurotypicals reading it,) that you are able to construct better than a vapid and sloppily rendered comment. Perhaps a better sample would convince me.

[@Crossword131]

@@writeralbertlanier3434 I'm actually curious...have you published under your name?

[@writeralbertlanier3434]

@@Crossword131 Nah I always published under my pen name- Roger Ebert. LOL