Starting is the most difficult thing that there is. For me the difference between page two and page nothing is the difference between life and death. — Aaron Sorkin. (photographs by annie leibovitz for vanity fair, on the set of newsroom)

Aaron Sorkin on Steve Jobs and Creativity in an Age of Distraction

Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin was a charmer at D10 today, where he appeared in advance of the debut of his new show The Newsroom on HBO, and as he prepares to write the script for a movie about the life of Steve Jobs. While Sorkin said the craft of storytelling hasn’t changed much since Aristotle, he’s aware he’s now writing to an audience of multitaskers.

 “I have the three screens — probably more than three screens. I have a desktop, a couple of laptops, an iPad and an iPhone somewhere on my person here.”

"Obviously, digital media plays a huge role in the show. There’s a character that’s extremely into the Internet and the power it has — there’s a clip where he looks at the uprising an Cairo, and how the people that report the news first get it themselves, which is almost always digital. Our entire set is basically made out of electricity, and if you put a satellite dish on the roof we could probably broadcast the news."  - Aaron Sorkin on The Newsroom

"The show takes place in a fictional newsroom; none of the characters are inspired by real people, even a little bit,” Sorkin said on stage. “It’s entirely fictional. It’s not meant to be anything on CNN, MSNBC, FOX. It’s generic cable news, and it takes place in the very recent past; all the news events are real. About two-thirds of the way through the pilot — I won’t spoil it — something happens and a date stamp comes up on a screen, and we realize it’s two years ago."  - Aaron Sorkin on The Newsroom