Bartlet4America News Archive

Sorkin Faces Up To a Sorry Spring

By DAVID ZURAWIK
The Baltimore Sun

LOS ANGELES — The Aaron Sorkin Public Apology Tour made two stops over the weekend at the Television Critics Summer Press Tour. With a publicist at his side, Sorkin was trying to do damage control — just like the Washington politicians he so skillfully depicts each week on NBC's The West Wing.

His first stop was Friday night at the NBC "All-Star Party" for new fall shows held in the swank Horseshoe Gardens of the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Pasadena where he was mobbed by reporters.

For those who haven't followed this year's most widely reported TV-Celebrity-Who-Got-in-Drug-Trouble-on-Hiatus story, Sorkin was arrested April 15 at the Burbank Airport for having cocaine, marijuana and hallucinogenic mushrooms in a carry-on bag. He's now in a court-ordered, 20-week counseling program that if completed will wipe the conviction off his record. He is also in Alcoholics Anonymous.

It has been a rough stretch for Sorkin personally and professionally. He and his wife of five years, Julia, are separated. He got involved in an online flap involving authorship of an episode of The West Wing that resulted in Sorkin looking foolishly egocentric and having to apologize to a former staff writer online.

And, earlier this month, it looked as if four of the show's co-stars might hold out for more money creating big production problems for one of the most expensive and difficult-to-produce shows on television with a price tag of $2.7 million an episode. The series started production July 16 with everyone back to work. The four — Allison Janney, John Spencer, Bradley Whitford and Richard Schiff — reportedly each got their salaries doubled to about $70,000 per episode.

Sorkin tried to quickly get the apology part out of the way Friday night, and make the troubles he's been seeing sound as if they were past history.

"I did something very foolish, and it was obviously very public and very embarrassing," he began in answer to a question about how he's feeling.

"There are obviously still some consequences to be lived through. But I am so grateful to be back at work. I'm so grateful to be able to go back to what feels like home to me, feels like a family to me — to work that doesn't just take my mind off all that, it takes my mind to a great place. It feels wonderful."

In response to a question about whether he thought the secret of his drug dependence last spring when he was writing the season finale affected the way he depicted President Bartlet (Martin Sheen) handling his secret of having multiple sclerosis, Sorkin said, "No, not then. Not at all. What happened to me in April happened after I wrote the last episode. In fact, right after I wrote it. I had delivered the script, we had our wrap party and I went to the Burbank airport."

But Sorkin said his troubles have colored what viewers will see in the season opener this fall, which picks the story up three months after the events of the finale with Bartlet in a re-election cycle and everyone at Bartlet's home in New Hampshire strategizing for the upcoming campaign.

"In coming back and writing the season opener, I found that a lot of what I feel about the chaos of the time [in his own life] is in there. You know, there's an invasion of privacy that happens that is pretty staggering when it happens to you.

"I'm trying to remember who said it, but they were talking about jealousy, and they said it's like seasickness: For the person it's happening to, they want to kill themselves. For everybody else, it's hysterical. That's what this was like, too. I know, it's Orson Wells who said it.

"So there's a little of that in the season opener. Everyone, including the press to a certain extent, feels a sense of betrayal and is reacting in a certain way. The press in Bartlet's world — which by and large has been very supportive and sympathetic because he's their kind of guy and they like him and a lot of them feel like they're responsible for getting him elected — have all of sudden come down on him like a brick bank. And so he's feeling that pressure," Sorkin said.

As to whether the pressure of writing the majority of scripts for the series had contributed to his drug problems last spring, Sorkin said, "I think it would be a mistake to think that the trouble I got into in April was the result of pressure at all. It was a result of stupidity and nothing else."

He does not plan to change the way he works, which involves writing up against a deadline 22 weeks a year, Sorkin said.

"There's really nothing to change. I don't have much of a work schedule. I get to work as early as I possibly can about 7 a.m., and I leave when I can't keep my eyes open any more, and I do that every day. And I want to make it clear I'm not the only one. There are 60 of us who do that.

"My schedule depends somewhat on what stage of the writing I am at. If I am at the start of the script-writing process, which means I have no ideas and nothing is going on, I won't stay late, because staying only reminds me that I'm not writing anything and nothing's going on. I'm not Charlie Brown in that regard thinking, 'You know what I need is a good night's sleep, and if I'm refreshed tomorrow I'll have good ideas.' A bad day could go 18 hours maybe even longer."

Sorkin was back at the hotel with the cast of The West Wing Saturday night to pick up the Television Critics Association Award for Outstanding Drama. It was the end of a better day than the ones he'd been having lately, he said.

"You've never seen a group of people so happy to be done with hiatus. In the doldrums of summer reruns and reality series, the TV critics need something to write about; no need to thank us," he said getting a big laugh.

But he ended on a more serious note, saying that in a meeting last week, co-executive-producer John Wells told him and the cast to just "keep your heads down, work hard, and better times will come."

"So, I want to thank you tonight," Sorkin said, "for giving us a night where we can pick our heads back up for a minute."

Sorkin’s Drug Subplot Ending

By ED BARK
The Dallas Morning News

PASADENA, Calif. — Aaron Sorkin is back in the groove, writing episodes of The West Wing after briefly becoming better known for a high-profile drug bust.

NBC's acclaimed White House drama began production on its third season this week, giving Mr. Sorkin a fresh start as well.

"I did something really stupid, and it was obviously very public and very embarrassing," he told a small group of reporters circling him at an NBC lawn party. "There are consequences to live through. But to be able to go back to what feels like home feels wonderful. I'm so happy to be back on the set and not out on the streets where I can cause any damage."

Mr. Sorkin, who created The West Wing and writes all of its episodes, was arrested in April for trying to board a flight to Las Vegas with illegal substances in his carry-on bag. Work-related stress wasn't to blame, he emphasized. "It would be a mistake to think the trouble I got into was the result of pressure at all. It was the result of stupidity and nothing else."

Currently on probation, Mr. Sorkin gratefully is immersing himself in the fictional travails of the Bartlet administration. He disclosed that West Wing will have a two-part season premiere that begins with President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen) and his advisers plotting his formal re-election announcement at the commander in chief's New Hampshire home. The gathering is three months beyond last season's finale, when Bartlet stood almost interminably mute after a reporter asked him if he'd seek a second term after disclosing he had covered up the fact that he has multiple sclerosis.

The president's symbolic body language — a smiling, hand-in-pocket salute to his late personal secretary, Mrs. Landingham — signaled a determination to fight for his political life rather than resign under pressure.

"I don't think I did a good enough job in conveying that," Mr. Sorkin said. "For anybody who didn't understand that last scene, it will be resolved in the first 20 seconds. We'll keep flashing back to the season finale to see the fallout from there and how they got to New Hampshire three months later.

"They've got to convince the public that MS isn't fatal, and that the president is not going to have an attack in the situation room and bomb Heidelberg during Oktoberfest or something. They're all still a little shellshocked. The president whom they loved and trusted so much has surprised them with something they didn't expect. They're not 100 percent on board with him yet. It's put some dents in the bumper of this guy."

Mr. Sorkin essentially makes up West Wing as he goes along rather than predetermine a seasonlong "bible." He does know this much, though: Bartlet will face a challenge from within his own Democratic Party as well as re- election opposition from "any number of qualified Republican challengers." Mr. Sorkin plans to stretch the presidential campaign all the way through West Wing's upcoming season before having the election in November 2002.

He also hopes to put Bartlet on a train for the first six episodes of that fourth season, taking the show on the road for a series of whistle-stops "all over the country."

"Hopefully, if we do our jobs, you're not going to get bored with it fast," Mr. Sorkin said. "I don't want to give the impression that we've shifted gears entirely and this now is a show about a campaign. The heart of the show will still be issues and the personal lives of the people working for the president."

West Wing is adding three new cast members this season. Ron Silver (Chicago Hope), Connie Britton (Spin City) and Evan Handler (It's Like, You Know) all will play outside political consultants brought in to "shake things up." And Stockard Channing will have more to do as embattled first lady Abigail Bartlet.

Mr. Sorkin also said that holdover regulars Richard Schiff, Allison Janney, Bradley Whitford and John Spencer all are contentedly on the job after reportedly threatening to boycott the first day of shooting over a salary dispute.

"It hasn't been the distraction you might think," Mr. Sorkin said. "My understanding is that they've got it together and everything is fine."

Before West Wing returns with new episodes, the show again will battle The Sopranos for Emmy supremacy in drama-series categories. The Bartlet administration easily prevailed last year, winning a record nine statues to The Sopranos' one. This time the HBO series has 22 nominations and West Wing, 18.

"I certainly wouldn't mind if The Sopranos won" as best series, Mr. Sorkin said. "They deserve it this year, they deserved it last year. I would love to see a five-way tie [with fellow drama nominees ER, The Practice and Law & Order]. I think good television is good for television."

The Sopranos and West Wing in fact did tie for outstanding achievement in drama at Saturday night's 17th annual Television Critics Association Awards. But The Sopranos was the lone winner for program of the year.

‘West Wing’ Throws Hat Into Ring

By Rick Porter
Zap2it

LOS ANGELES — Aaron Sorkin is taking "The West Wing" on the campaign trail.

Sorkin told reporters Friday (July 20) that the cast is preparing to film an episode in New Hampshire, the fictional President Bartlet's home state, in which Bartlet makes his "big, formal campaign announcement."

Based on Sorkin's comments, as well as clues in last season's finale, it appears Bartlet (Martin Sheen) will run for a second term. Last season ended on that very question from a reporter at a news conference after Bartlet revealed he has multiple sclerosis.

The episode will jump ahead three months from the news conference as the White House staff gathers in New Hampshire the weekend before the announcement to hash out the speech. The story will also flash back to the fallout from the disclosure of Bartlet's condition.

The campaign also will bring two new characters into Bartlet's circle — campaign handlers played by Ron Silver and Connie Britton.

While the campaign storyline will be crucial, Sorkin says it won't take over the show. "I don't want to give the impression that we've shifted gears entirely and this is now a show about a campaign," he says. "One of the reasons for [introducing the new characters] is to allow our guys, the White House staff, to still be involved in the kinds of stories we've been telling for two years. The heart of the show stays in the West Wing."

Sorkin also says that the rumored walkout by four of the show's actors — Allison Janney, Richard Schiff, John Spencer and Bradley Whitford — over pay issues hasn't been as big a distraction as reported.

"If it's had any effect, it sort of had the effect that on Monday morning when the cameras started rolling, everybody kind of falling on the ground and kissing it, [saying], 'Something we understand finally.'" Sorkin adds that, although he's "way out of the loop," he understands that the actors and Warner Bros. are close to working out a deal.

Channing Calls ‘West Wing’ Deal ‘Something for Nothing’

By BRILL BUNDY
Zap2it

LOS ANGELES — Last summer actress Stockard Channing said that she liked not being part of the regular cast of NBC's "The West Wing," preferring to stop by every so often as First Lady Abigail Bartlet.

"It's great writing and great to be a part of, but that's not what the show is about," she said. "The show is not about the personal life of the President of the United States."

This season that all changed when it was revealed that the President (Martin Sheen) is suffering from multiple sclerosis, a fact he had managed to keep secret since his wife was also his doctor. With his making clear his intentions to run for re-election this coming season, Channing's presence will be much more necessary.

Still, although she's signed on for three years, Channing says her schedule is as flexible as ever.

"I'm sort of an irregular regular, because my deal is such that I maintain the same flexibility I had before, which is that if my schedule permits and they have a story for me I show up," says the actress. "It's just financially it's a little nicer. And, in return, I can't go do a pilot for another network. Oh boo-hoo."

"Which is not the operating, organizing principle of my life, but there you go. Don't tell them that because they don't know they got something for nothing."

"West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin is notorious for working on scripts right up until the wire, and Channing herself has no idea what will happen in episode three of this season. In fact, she calls the whole process "a function of Aaron's brain."

Channing's original appearance was slated to be a one-shot guest shot, so she came in during a five-day hiatus from a film she was shooting. After it aired, Sorkin took her out for lunch.

"And he said, 'Well, everybody thought that was great. And also our ratings went up a lot when you went on, which might have had something to do with it.' Then, he said, 'So I'm thinking, do you want to be a doctor? That's a good idea, because I have this thing — he has a really bad cold in the teaser, and I'm thinking he might have MS. And you could be his doctor.'"

Producer Addresses ‘West Wing’ Woes

By BRILL BUNDY
Zap2it

LOS ANGELES — NBC's hit political drama "The West Wing" has been in the news a lot lately. In addition to the praise heaped on it by the Emmy-nominating committee, it has been plagued by creator Aaron Sorkin's drug arrest in April, disgruntled writers upset at not getting their contractual raises and cast members Allison Janney, Richard Schiff, John Spencer and Bradley Whitford's banding together to get more money themselves.

However, producer John Wells says that it's all par for the course.

"They're all very separate events," says Wells. "I think the actors' negotiation will be completed relatively soon. I don't know if that's a few days, or a few weeks, but it's not going to be a few months."

"I think that Aaron's drug arrest early on was certainly difficult for him personally, and that's where most of our worries were, because it's something he's struggled with for a long time and has been very honest about."

"That's the only thing in the off season that has been extraordinary. Everything else has been part of the regular back and forth."

The producer says that the writers' issue was taken out of context. Rather than being singled out, their lack of raises was more the product of salary freezes across the board, while the producers waited to see if NBC was going to help them out with additional funding. Ultimately, the writing staff's turnover was no more than in a regular year.

Wells, who also produces "ER", says that minus the "extraordinary" costs of Anthony Edwards and Noah Wyle, the medical drama in its eighth year is cheaper to produce that "West Wing" in its third. This is due to their inability to shoot in any of the real political arenas like Congress, the White House or on Air Force One.

"Everytime you go into a room you have 300 extras, everytime you walk down a hall you have 17 Secret Service agents," says Wells. "There's more extras, more black-tie events, more motorcades, and we can't do it any of the real places, so we're always spending a tremendous amount of money to make it look like a real presidency."

While the aforementioned actors all showed up for work on Monday (July 16), they are still looking for significant pay raises. Wells insists that this is the price of doing business, and shouldn't be taken personally by anyone.

"The difficulty, particularly for actors who haven't been through this process a lot, is that the negotiating process for this is very adversarial," he says. "I have the exact same experience everytime I negotiate a deal with Time Warner."

"It is by nature of that relationship you don't ever get what you want, you sort of feel like you don't get what you deserve, and, at the same time, in the end everyone, I suspect, will be very happy."

Will ‘West Wing’ Go Up in Smoke?

By SHARON WAXMAN
Washington Post

HOW IN THE WORLD DID THIS HAPPEN?

One minute "The West Wing" is riding the crest of a cultural wave, sweeping up Emmy and Peabody awards, adorning glossy magazine covers, making a star of its creator, Aaron Sorkin, and water-cooler chat of C.J., President Bartlet and Mrs. Landingham.

The next minute, there's blood in the water and discontent in the air.

Ever since Sorkin was arrested in April at Burbank Airport with cocaine, marijuana and hallucinogenic mushrooms in his carry-on bag, air has been leaking from the "West Wing" balloon.

Unpleasant stories have been finding their way into the press about the hit NBC show short-changing its writers by failing to give them contractually promised raises. Other former writers have been grumbling about Sorkin hogging credit for their work. Then several cast members threatened to skip the start of the new season's production this week if they didn't get substantial raises.

One of the show's executive producers, John Wells, says that the writers will get raises as soon as a budget freeze is lifted and that negotiations with the actors will be settled shortly (they did come to work on Monday). He says he is not worried about Sorkin.

But television insiders are wondering aloud about the critical darling of the past two years -- and especially about the man most responsible for all that acclaim. (Last week the show was nominated for 18 Emmys, after sweeping the awards last year.)

"I don't know what's going on with Aaron," says Rick Cleveland, a former "West Wing" writer whom Sorkin oddly belittled in an online chat with fans this month. He apologized profusely online after Cleveland protested. "The guy obviously has some problems, and I don't know what they are," says Cleveland.

And Sorkin himself, who agreed for the first time to talk about his drug arrest along with the other issues, acknowledges that "West Wing" is going through a rough patch. "We've gotten some bad press in the past couple of months. Some of it was earned. I did something stupid and embarrassing. And that got the ball rolling," he says. "But some of it wasn't earned."

Sorkin, the 40-year-old writer-producer responsible for the show's rapid-fire repartee and vivid characterizations, managed to avoid jail time. But he was publicly mortified by the drug arrest and is now separated from his wife of five years, Julia.

Under a plea agreement with prosecutors, Sorkin has been attending weekly, two-hour drug education classes. That is in addition to the weekly counseling at his office that went on even as he fell back into drug use, and weekly Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. If he completes the 20-week, court-ordered program, the charges will be dropped and the arrest wiped from his record.

"I did something stupid. It was aberrant. I was caught; I'm paying the price," Sorkin said in a telephone conversation Wednesday. "I regret any embarrassment that I may have brought to the show, to my family, to the people I work for."

But, he added, "I know I'm going to be okay. I was arrested April 15. Today is July 18, and I haven't pulled my face off yet."

The arrest was especially embarrassing because Sorkin had previously spoken openly with the press about his former cocaine addiction and had even based a story line about substance abuse for the character of Leo, the president's chief of staff, on his own experiences. The writer received an award from Phoenix House, an anti-drug organization, in February.

But Sorkin insisted that he doesn't suffer from anything like the severe freebase cocaine habit he had in 1995, when he entered a 28-day rehabilitation program at Hazelden Institute in Minnesota. "I went voluntarily for an everyday drug problem. What happened at the Burbank Airport was not that. It was something else. . . . I believed I could have one potato chip."

By any measure, Sorkin had been performing at a high level, albeit under intense pressure. "You can't freebase and write at the same time," said Sorkin. "Here I write one hour of television a week. I'm here at 7, I don't go home until after 9 or 10, I'm always surrounded by people."

The weekend of his arrest wasn't the first time Sorkin had fallen off the wagon, he said, but there had been fewer than five other occasions when he smoked cocaine.

He had just finished writing an episode, just as the shoot of the season finale had been completed. Sorkin's wife was away at a spa, so after a crew wrap party, Sorkin headed to Burbank Airport to spend a day and a night in Las Vegas. In his carry-on bag, in plain sight, were marijuana, a small amount of rock cocaine, some mushrooms and a $4 metal pipe. He was stopped during a routine security check.

Why risk it all? It's a question that Sorkin cannot really answer. "I'm a recovering drug addict," he merely says. "I will be tempted for the rest of my life."

Sorkin had been taking Vicodin for a painful back problem, he said. He acknowledged occasionally smoking marijuana in his office to relax. None of this led to his relapse, he said.

But other staffers on the show said they found the marijuana use disturbing. "He'd stay late writing and the smell of marijuana would sometimes be coming from his office," said one former writer. "Among the writers this was laughed about constantly, that someone who was this paragon of anti-drug reform . . . was downstairs indulging in this."

Sorkin's colleagues on the show, which rests so wholly on his shoulders, are concerned about him. At NBC's presentation of the fall schedule to advertisers in May, the "West Wing" cast met with the press. Martin Sheen, who plays President Bartlet, faced the cameras and gamely said of his boss: "He's not out there alone. Anything we can do -- any time. We've become family."

But later, in a quiet moment, he shook his head over the drug use. "He won't stop," said Sheen. "Not until he kills himself."

With the whiff of scandal around Sorkin, other conflicts surrounding the show have been less than welcome.

In late May "West Wing" producers told some staff writers they would not get the raises promised in their contracts because of budget cuts. Two writers left and the two most junior writers stayed, but the incident caused consternation in part because the raises were a relative pittance -- in the low thousands of dollars for the younger writers. In the case of consultant Dee Dee Myers, the former press secretary in the Clinton White House, the raise was a mere $250 per episode. After several calls, her agent managed to get her the money.

"I don't understand the budget thing. I don't get it," says Lawrence O'Donnell Jr., one of two writers who left the show, noting that "West Wing" recently concluded a lucrative syndication deal with the Bravo cable channel. "John (Wells) has been the most generous person I've ever worked for. It's hard to imagine he doesn't have a good explanation."

Wells does have an explanation, which is that "West Wing," while a top-10 ratings hit and a critical success, has a $50 million deficit, losing about $1 million per episode. The show's studio, Warner Bros., had been leaning on him to cut costs, he said.

"The entire show has been under a financial freeze for the last four or five months," said Wells, who has a $35 million deal with Warner Bros. and also earns millions from producing "ER." "This is the most expensive show I've ever been involved in. When you build a senator's office on 'West Wing' it costs $80,000. You have to put in marble, windows -- there is a pomp and opulence surrounding our presidency, which is expensive."

According to Wells, NBC pays Warner Bros. $1.6 million per episode, while the cost is $2.7 million per episode. He acknowledges, though, that in upcoming negotiations the network is expected to pay several times the current sum to continue airing the hit.

The incident with the writers contained some irony since Wells heads the Writers Guild of America West Coast, and had just concluded months of tough bargaining with movie and television studios to win raises for writers.

Other money woes have arisen among four Emmy-nominated cast members: Allison Janney (press secretary C.J. Cregg), Richard Schiff (the misanthropic aide Toby Ziegler), John Spencer (chief of staff Leo McGarry) and Bradley Whitford (presidential aide Josh Lyman) -- who hinted in the trade press last week that they might not show up for the first day of production because of a salary dispute.

The four have made it known that they've been earning only $25,000 to $30,000 per episode, far less than actors on other hit shows. The lead actors in "ER" make several hundred thousand dollars each per show.

Their attorney, Peter Nelson, said the actors took low salaries at the start of "West Wing" with the understanding that they'd be rewarded if the show were a hit. They also were surprised to learn, he adds, that fellow cast member Rob Lowe was making about double their salaries.

Warner Bros. has offered to double their salaries, say both sides, while the actors are seeking triple the figure.

"We want to give them a raise because we think they've done a great job," says Wells. "They just want more than Warner Brothers wants to pay them."

Meantime, resentment has been surfacing among former "West Wing" writers over Sorkin's high-profile command of the spotlight. Here again, Sorkin has not necessarily helped matters by his own conduct.

Rick Cleveland shared an Emmy with Sorkin last year for an episode in which Toby helps a homeless war veteran get a military burial in Arlington National Cemetery.

The story was based on Cleveland's own father, a Korean War veteran who'd finished out his life as an alcoholic living on the street and in flophouses. In an article in the Writer's Guild magazine last November, Cleveland recounted how he felt humiliated when Sorkin ignored him during the acceptance speech.

"I had a dumbfounded smirk on my face, and I imagine I must've looked a little like a member of Sorkin's security detail," Cleveland wrote. "When he was done speaking, he kind of ushered me offstage with him and, dumbly, I followed."

Then Sorkin claimed this month during a discussion on the Internet fan-site mightybigtv.com that he had thrown out Cleveland's script and rewritten it. He added, "At the end of the first season, Rick was fired. Not by me . . . and it was for lack of performance."

Cleveland refuted the posting, point by point. He noted that the Writer's Guild had awarded him credit on the episode based on scripts he had written, and said he left "West Wing" voluntarily.

Within a few days, Sorkin fell on his sword: "Rick? If you're out there . . . ?" he wrote. "I and everyone else appreciate the contribution you made to the episode. It was crucial. I was dead wrong to imply otherwise. I deeply regret not having thanked you that night [of the Emmys]."

In the interview Wednesday, Sorkin explained the incident as follows: "I reacted too quickly. I was simply responding to this person [on the Internet], not thinking that there were more than a dozen people in the room. I tried to talk about the situation. I then went a step too far." He paused. "It's not a guilty conscience. I know how this must look."

But the incident crystallized what many former writers on the show believe, that Sorkin has hogged credit for their work and acts as if they were mere researchers. "I don't think it's fair to characterize the writers as not writing. I guess I'm something of a poster boy for the case against that," said Cleveland.

Said another former writer, Jeff Reno, "He really likes telling the world, 'I'll sit down in the weeds with a few days to go and write a script.' When he did that, there were 30 or 40 pages of material we'd developed."

Reno said Sorkin's compulsion to take full credit for "West Wing" was needless, since he was so obviously the heart of the show: "While it's his prerogative to write the show himself, the way he goes about it is at the expense of other people on the show."

Cleveland says Sorkin recognizes his own insecurity: "When he'd explain why he'd be reluctant to work with another writer's script, he'd say, 'I'm a little afraid that the class' -- meaning the actors -- 'might fall in love with the substitute teacher.' "

The cycle of success in Hollywood almost always includes a moment when an ugly underside is revealed. Part of the dizzying euphoria of being on top in Hollywood is the certain knowledge that it probably won't last. For Sorkin, how long it all lasts may be in his own hands.

"There's this sense that I'm here to take jobs from other writers, that I'm doing the job of 12 people instead of letting 12 people do the job," he protests. "All I can say is: I never wanted to be a show-runner. I've never wanted to run a staff or polish other people's work. I've only ever wanted to write scripts. There's no way I could do it without a group of exceptionally talented, enthusiastic and energetic writers helping me." But then he thinks some more and confesses: "There is a lot of resentment toward me. I don't want to fight that. But I would say to any writer, 'God, why don't you do it, too? If you want to write, create a TV show and write it.' "

Everything will be fine, he says, just as soon as he can settle back into work. Says Sorkin: "What remains true is that everyone here is very committed to the show, committed to each other, and we know that once we start doing our work again these other things will slide away."

Washington Casts an Eye on Hollywood

By FAYE FIORE
L.A. Times

‘The West Wing’ is attracting politicians with a hankering to break into show biz

In a converted apartment house on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, writers for "The West Wing" are busy hatching the third-season opener, where President Jeb [sic] Bartlet announces from the steps of the New Hampshire statehouse that he is seeking a second term.

They need a subplot; under consideration is the approval of the abortion pill RU-486, which most of them know next to nothing about. So they have summoned on a conference call President Clinton's former top economic advisor, Gene Sperling, who is telling them everything he knows about the morning-after pill — not to mention living the fantasy of political operatives all over Washington.

"There is a fever in Washington among people who believe there may be a chance for a second career in television via 'The West Wing,'" said Lawrence O'Donnell, a former Senate aide who became a producer of the show and recently left to create his own Washington-based series.

Something approaching glamour has attached itself to the marbled city. For the first time in anyone's memory, television is making Washington look interesting, and series creator Aaron Sorkin has hired — at about $30,000 a season — half a dozen political insiders from every administration since Jimmy Carter's.

A stack of resumes from displaced Clintonites sits in Sorkin's office, unread. Rep. David Dreier, a San Dimas Republican and head of the powerful House Rules Committee, is waiting to be asked to make a cameo appearance.

And somewhere in Los Angeles, a presidential historian who e-mailed Sorkin and couldn't get the time of day is banging out a pilot of his own about the private lives of political people. ("It was like e-mailing into this black hole. Why should I give away my ideas for free?" grumbled the Washington insider, electing to remain anonymous pending a deal that could land him in show business.)

Over the years, actors and sports legends have moved from screen and stadium to the political arena. George Murphy went from song-and-dance man to U.S. senator from California, paving the way for Ronald Reagan's leapfrog from "Bedtime for Bonzo" to the statehouse to the White House. Warren Beatty revealed utterly without embarrassment that he would like to be president. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently allowed his name to be bandied about as a potential Republican challenger to Gov. Gray Davis. And Maryland Republicans are wondering aloud about Orioles star Cal Ripken's gubernatorial prospects.

But in a reversal of course, political veterans are casting an eye toward Hollywood, where the producers of a show about a liberal Democratic White House with a disease-concealing president considers policy expertise hot property. Of particular value are viewpoints that run counter to Hollywood's long-standing liberal shibboleths.

"If in the script there is an argument about gun control, the most precious document you could produce at 'The West Wing' that week is a passionate, intelligent case against gun control. We know how to do the other one," said O'Donnell, whose resume includes a stint as Democratic staff director for the Senate Finance Committee.

Obscure details that help give the show its verisimilitude — from the financial disclosure statements the president fills out to the color of the seats on Air Force One — come from a stable of campaign veterans, including Peggy Noonan, speechwriter for Ronald Reagan; Marlin Fitzwater, press secretary for the elder President Bush; former Carter pollster Pat Caddell; and ex-Clinton press secretary Dee Dee Myers.

In two seasons of 44 episodes, Sorkin has given a TV face lift to a city often portrayed as a sinkhole of incompetence, ambition and greed. For many inside the Beltway, it is a mirror that takes 10 pounds off — it's them, but better. The characters are wittier, quicker, more beautiful. The clothes are stylish, the haircuts hip. The motivation is sincere, the speeches — incredibly — short and sweet.

"If there is someone like those characters in Washington, I'd like to meet them," said Margaret Cone, a lobbyist for the Writers Guild. "All of that witty repartee. People in Washington are too stressed out to be witty."

Those glowing portrayals, combined with stellar ratings, have made Hollywood more likeable to some in Washington, even if the feeling isn't always mutual. (In a recent outburst, actor Martin Sheen — a.k.a. President Bartlet — called President Bush "a moron"; the cast got invited to the White House just the same.)

"I do think 'The West Wing' is the only program in my memory that deals with pols as people motivated by a desire to do something other than scalp the public," said Gene Smith, chief of staff for Rep. Howard Berman (D-Mission Hills).

Rich Mills, spokesman for U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick, rejoiced last season when TV press secretary Toby Ziegler gave anti-trade protesters an earful.

"I was pumped," Mills said. When the rerun aired, he watched the episode again.

Indeed, some consider it a greater victory to get an issue discussed for 90 seconds on "The West Wing" than to score 20 minutes on a Sunday morning talk show.

"Oh, 'West Wing,' absolutely," Dreier, a ubiquitous talking head, concluded when asked which television venue he preferred: "The Sam and Cokie, 'Meet the Press' audience is the audience I have access to and can usually get to. But 'The West Wing' audience is larger and clearly more diverse."

Some view the show as a political science lesson that plays as well in Peoria as on the Potomac.

Brill's Content magazine applauded it for doing a better job explaining the decennial census than did the news department at NBC. All to the delight of spinmeisters who see a third season as another opportunity to reach the masses.

"Which is why the writers need to be careful," said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a USC instructor who makes the show required viewing for her film and politics class. "Whether or not you agree with the policy stands, they need to ring true because people will accept them."

Inevitably, the show's success has created potential for other Washington-based series. Two Supreme Court shows are in the works as possible midseason replacements and former Supreme Court clerks are currently in demand, O'Donnell said.

Still, O'Donnell estimated the chance of Washington insiders breaking into show business is roughly equivalent to landing a seat on the space shuttle.

And for public servants dreaming of a house in Malibu and a career in Hollywood, Sorkin had this advice: "I would prefer qualified people stay in government. I think it's where they are most needed."

West Wing cast members to hold out?

CNN.com

NEW YORK (Reuters) — On the day that "The West Wing" received 18 Emmy nominations, there was no popping of champagne corks, but rather the figurative sound of a line being scratched in the sand as four of the show's Emmy-nominated cast members contemplated holding out until their salaries are raised.

Variety reports that Peter Nelson, the attorney who was retained by Allison Janney, Richard Schiff, Bradley Whitford and John Spencer to renegotiate their deals on the prestige drama, indicated that unless their per-episode paydays are brought in line with those of their co-stars, the quartet would skip work on Monday, the day which Warner Bros. and John Wells Prods. have declared will mark a breach of contract if the actors don't show up.

"This is not a typical negotiation, in that they are not asking for raises because the show has become a hit," said Nelson, a partner in the firm Nelson Felker Levine & Dern. "What they are asking is merely for Warner Bros. to make good on what it promised when they made their original deals. The best way to put it is, the actors are fully prepared to meet their work obligations Monday, assuming Warners meets its obligation to them."

Nelson denied the quartet deliberately ducked out of this week's scheduled table readings and rehearsals as a show of defiance, claiming that the actors got mixed signals from the producers that led two of them to make other plans.

Their absence, however, brought to the forefront a salary negotiation that had been brewing since late May. And indications are the studio and actors aren't close on the numbers.

A wide gulf between numbers

While WB has offered to double the cast salaries to about $65,000, and add annual bumps of $10,000 per season, Warner wants two additional years beyond the six in the original pact. The actors want around $90,000, but want that figure to escalate to $200,000 by the seventh season. They are reluctant to agree to an eighth. WB has vowed to greet any walkout with prompt legal action for breach of contract.

Nelson wouldn't go into salary specifics, but said his clients took less than their fair market value going in, were told that the show's budget was high, the subject matter a risky proposition. They were also told, he said, that nobody would be making more than $40,000 an episode.

"They subsequently discovered that was not true, a fact confirmed by the studio when those cast members went back to the studio, which acknowledged the original statements made weren't true and that they'd try to fix it," said Nelson. "Two years later, each of those actors have been Emmy nominated, and Richard and Allison have won Emmys."

Because Martin Sheen wasn't expected to be a regular in the original configuration, the actor they seem to be seeking parity with is Rob Lowe, who the studio admits was hired at a higher rate, given his feature track record.

Other sources said that Lowe had a high quote from an overall TV deal with Paramount and cut his price significantly to do the show. From the studio's standpoint, Lowe and Sheen's presence had been considered a strong reason audiences tuned in initially, before show creator Aaron Sorkin's ensemble built that audience base.

Profitability not ensured, says studio

The "Wing" quartet doesn't make the same salaries, with episode paychecks ranging from just below $30,000 an episode to slightly higher. Lowe's salary started around $65,000 and is said to be in the low $70,000 an episode range, while Sheen earns six-figures.

The salary dispute seems small compared to the record salary signed by Kelsey Grammer, who's believed to now be making $1.75 million an episode ($1.25-million-per-episode base salary plus a $500,000 advance against syndication revenues) for the Paramount cash cow "Frasier."

But "The West Wing" has two years left on its license fee deal and will lose money until then, with the studio unconvinced its political subject matter will make it the kind of syndication cash machine that "ER" is.

Will the "West Wing" foursome hold out?

"We would never use the term 'hold out,' but talks that were moving along suddenly seem to have become unproductive, and to date, Warner Bros. hasn't fixed the problem," said Nelson. "But I'd rather not make predictions at this point."

Warner Bros. is a unit of AOL Time Warner, as is CNN.com.

Sunday Q & A: West Wing Fact and Fiction

The New York Times

Q. Is the television series "The West Wing" at all realistic? Does the real White House run like that and look like that, and does the chief of staff wield so much power?

A. Katharine Q. Seelye, a former White House correspondent and a "West Wing" watcher, responds:

The set of the show is much glossier than the reality. The real West Wing, particularly the press room, is worn and scruffy and home to the occasional rat (the feral kind). The show's open and airy work space, with glass partitions and all- window corridors, is also manufactured, mainly for visual and sound purposes. One former White House official said the open set design, while not realistic, made it easier to depict the decision making and relationships that create the show's drama.

While the Oval Office of the show is a faithful replica, there is no "Mural Room." Some of the logistics are also a stretch. For example, the fictional characters, including the president, sometimes gather to talk in the press briefing room. There is no way that would occur in real life without reporters crawling all over them. Also unrealistic is the easy access the show's reporters have to the press secretary's office. Barging in is not an option.

But totally true to life, say those who have toiled in the real West Wing, is that everyone is really busy all the time. People really do carry on intense conversations -- if not while barreling from office to office, at least as they lurch from crisis to crisis, although few speak in such well-considered sentences as the show's gifted characters. "People are incredibly busy and stressed and focused on the day's events," said another former White House official. And real life is much quieter than on the show. "There are not a lot of people in the halls of the West Wing walking around kibitzing," he said.

The substance is also fairly accurate, especially the horse-trading with Congress and the accommodation with various constituency groups. What is jarring these days is the overall political zeitgeist. The fictional White House, with its liberal Democratic tilt, seemed more real when Bill Clinton was in office. Now that a Republican with a different agenda is president, the underlying sensibility of the show seems dated and, yes, less realistic.

A Day in The Life of a West Wing Extra

By ANDREA SACHS
Washington Post

Three things about Hollywood you'll never read in Entertainment Weekly: It can take up to 16 hours to tape a scene that airs for only 10 minutes; celebrities wear fuzzy slippers between shoots, and extras toil through mind-numbingly long days of sitting and waiting, alleviated by the real prospect of appearing on-screen with A-list stars.

How did I get inside TV Land? By working as an extra on "West Wing," where I was privy to the secrets of a live shoot -- or at least as much as I could see from the nosebleed section of the National Cathedral.

In mid-April, NBC's award-winning political drama came to town to tape its season finale, which included a full day and night at the National Cathedral.

The program shoots in Washington about four times a year, with a summer hiatus. But it is not alone: Washington also is a popular filming locale for blockbuster movies ("Silence of the Lambs," "Runaway Bride"), popular TV shows ("X-Files," "America's Most Wanted"), commercials and industrial films.

What does this flurry of Hollywood activity mean for locals? A spike in celebrity sightings (politicians don't count), and a rare chance to see the industry from the inside out -- as an extra.

Extras "get water, food, shelter, the opportunity to sit next to someone famous and to see yourself on screen," says Carlyn Davis, president of Carlyn Davis Casting of Falls Church. Added bonuses: a paycheck, and some juicy on-set gossip that will make you the hit of the company softball team.

Extras, also called "nondescript background," often are in high demand for large-scale shoots -- especially when hundreds (even thousands) are needed for a particular scene. "Hannibal," for example, hired plain-old Joes and Janes to mill about Union Station; "West Wing" used 250 "mourners" to fill the cathedral for its finale funeral service.

When casting agencies can't fill the order with names from their own files (yes, there are full-time extras), they place open call announcements on the radio and in newspapers. Notices also are listed on state film offices' hot lines, posted on casting agencies' Web sites or are passed along by friends who have some connection to the industry.

My link, for example, was a friend who works at the cathedral, who himself had received a note informing employees and their "reliable" acquaintances of the Saturday taping. No experience was necessary, said his forwarded e-mail, just arrive promptly at 6 a.m. and wear black.

Being an extra involves no more than sitting as still as a stump; there is no acting involved, few to no words spoken, not even a need to be "in character" (in our case, to act weepy).

"You don't have to train all your life to be an extra," says Tricia Erickson, president of Erickson Agency in McLean, which supplied extras for such films as "Hannibal" and "Hollow Man." "You just have to know the etiquette."

Oh, yes, the etiquette guide to being an extra. From the top: Don't photograph the stars, ask them for autographs or "engage them in idle conversation." Don't wander off; stay in the one or two places assigned to the extras. Don't wear bright colors or patterns. Don't mug for the camera or be aggressive. And most important, don't upstage the actors. (One agent tells of an extra who bumped into Annette Bening during the filming of "The American President," causing her to tumble.)

When you're forced to be fairly inactive from sunrise to sundown, the inner kindergartner kicks in. And that's when some of the extras start to flout the cardinal rules.

Our day began at dawn in a seventh-floor room with views of flying buttresses and patches of green. This was the extras' holding area, where we'd regroup and pass the hours reading, chatting, napping or snacking on whatever the caterers laid out on long card tables: eggs, Danishes, coffee and sweetened ice tea, bananas.

Every so often a peppy production assistant with a head-set and rotini-shaped curls would bounce in, make an announcement or herd us into a new room. Two makeup artists also trolled the area, nabbing extras for makeovers and a quick hair fix.

Our big scene involved most of the major cast members, including Rob Lowe (a k a Sam Seaborn) as a pallbearer, TV president Martin Sheen and first lady Stockard Channing as front-row mourners; a pastor, ushers and altar boys and girls plucked from the cathedral's ranks; and all 250 of us dressed in our funereal best. The shoot was scheduled for after lunch. That left eight hours to sit around -- or seek out a spot in the limelight.

A dark-haired lawyer who works for the House of Representatives and moonlights as an extra (with about 50 titles on his rŽsumŽ) became my ad hoc "acting" coach. Following his lead, we slipped onto the elevator to the ground level, where they were filming the motorcade's sweeping arrival and the president and first lady's entrance into the cathedral.

His advice: Make yourself available because in a crunch you could be picked from the sidelines. It worked -- for him, at least. He was handed a tan trench coat, a pair of Ray Bans and a plastic earpiece, and was told to take his position out front as a Secret Service agent.

I, however, did not get selected but remained in the shadows, watching Sheen and Channing in Jackie O glasses walk hand-in-hand through the carved portal.

His second recommendation: Act like you belong. So, I settled into a pew, grabbed a program (the January wedding of George Will's son), looked bereaved and secretly watched a t�te-ˆ-t�te between the president and his aide, John Spencer. When the president wanted a moment alone (cameras still rolling), I was ushered down the aisle by the Secret Service agent and out into the blinding noon sun, where a crowd of star-gazers cheered anytime someone -- famous or not -- exited. I walked up and down the nave a half-dozen times, which, as I later learned, was just a warm-up for the day's denouement.

"Where there is hatred, let me sow love . . . Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy. Amen." Over and over, we murmured the prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi. Stand, read, sit; rise, read, rise, read. For hours. The sun set. We got a bathroom break. Darkness fell. We chewed Tootsie Rolls, drank coffee, smoked. More sitting, standing, reciting -- until the heavenly words echoed from the altar to the exit door: "It's a wrap."

The season finale aired May 16, and I watched it with much anticipation -- not so much for the cliffhanger ending but for my (cross fingers) TV debut. The "West Wing" film crew shaved 15 hours 50 minutes off the funeral scene -- reducing it to 15 minutes, with two commercial breaks. Yet in that short sequence, with my nose pressed to the screen, I could have sworn that the shadowy figure in the background was I. If only the president had moved a little to the left, you would have seen me, too.