A little Newsroom inspiration

It was The American President that first made me sit up and take notice. And then I found Sports Night and followed it as ABC moved it all over the schedule. And then...The West Wing. All before the era of DVRs or DVDs or watching TV on the internet. I watched every episode of WW live on Wednesday evenings. And then, back when Bravo played it over and over in repeats, I watched it until I could recite lines. I have the script books for the first two seasons. And I vowed to buy a DVD player when they put the WW out on DVD. And I did.

When people ask who my favorite writer is I'm honest. I have two. Aaron Sorkin and Anne Lamott. Because to me, screenwriting is writing. One of the toughest types of writing. And the type that so many people, if you do your job well as a screenwriter, never realize is there in the first place. Because your writing becomes the words of actors who bring to life the message you're sending. It's pretty heady stuff.

So when I got the email that the Writers Guild Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the screenwriters union, was hosting An Evening with Aaron Sorkin, I snatched up tickets. Not only would we get to hear from Sorkin himself for over an hour (I've heard him speak before but always as part of a panel and it's never enough) but we'd get to see the series finale of his HBO television show The Newsroom a week before it premiered on television. A. Maze. Zing.

So Monday evening Angela and I headed to a theater in Hollywood and settled in. I spotted familiar faces in the crowd with us, writing teachers I had at UCLA, fellow emerging screenwriters, even a few professional ones (Angela totally geeked out when Breckin Meyer sat down a few rows behind us with his popcorn, see -- celebrities, they really are just like us). They showed the series finale, I tried hard not to cry too much in that crowded theater, and it was amazing. As all of Aaron's work is.

Then he came out. And he sat down and he started talking. And he talked for over an hour. And he made us laugh. He elicited some gasps and some squeals of delight from the audience of mostly writers. But what struck me most was that it really was a conversation about writing. One writer to another. Yes he has Emmys and Oscars and presumably Brinks' trucks full of gold coins but that night? In that room filled with writers just like himself, Aaron was just one of us.

He talked about how sometimes getting dressed is an accomplishment for the day. How sometimes at the end of the day it's a win to say we made it through the day, finished it and we're moving on. Even if we've got nothing tangible to show for it. He talked about being on deadline and feeling as if that blank page would never be filled. He talked about anxiety and distress and fear. And I just kept nodding and smiling and thinking, he gets it. He gets what I've been feeling every day for over six years. Since I moved to Los Angeles. He gets it. That's exactly how I feel.

He's self deprecating and honest and funny and exactly how you hope your idols will be when you meet them in person. And most of all? He's a writer. Everything he said, he brought back to writing. It was never about producing or acting or directing. It was always about the writing. And I think that's what makes him Aaron Sorkin.

It was a lovely night. I left smiling and recharged and ready to take on Hollywood. I left thinking I shouldn't beat myself up when the page is as white at the end of the day as it was at the beginning of the day because that happens to Aaron too. And I left salivating just thinking about what he'll do next.

Thank you for The American President, Sports Night, The West Wing, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Moneyball, The Social Network, The Newsroom and everything else you've written that I've loved, Aaron. But mostly? Thank you for being an inspiration to this writer. To me.