Aaron Sorkin Wikipedia. Aaron Sorkin. Born. Aaron Benjamin Sorkin1. June 9, 1. 96. 1 age 5. New York City, New York, U. S. Occupation. Screenwriter, Producer, Playwright, Director. Alma mater. Syracuse University. Years active. 19. Spouse. Julia Bingham 1. Aaron Benjamin Sorkin born June 9, 1. American screenwriter, director, producer and playwright. His works include the Broadway plays A Few Good Men and The Farnsworth Invention the television series Sports Night, The West Wing, Studio 6. Sunset Strip and The Newsroom and the films A Few Good Men, The American President, Charlie Wilsons War, Moneyball and Steve Jobs. For writing The Social Network, he won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, among other awards. He made his feature directorial debut in 2. Mollys Game, which he also wrote. Sorkins trademark rapid fire dialogue and extended monologues are complemented, in television, by frequent collaborator Thomas Schlammes characteristic directing technique called the walk and talk. These sequences consist of single tracking shots of long duration involving multiple characters engaging in conversation as they move through the set characters enter and exit the conversation as the shot continues without any cuts. Early yearseditSorkin was born in Manhattan, New York City,2 to a Jewish family,3 and was raised in the New York suburb of Scarsdale. His mother was a schoolteacher and his father a copyright lawyer who had fought in WWII and put himself through college on the G. I. Bill both his older sister and brother went on to become lawyers. His paternal grandfather was one of the founders of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union ILGWU. Sorkin took an early interest in acting. Before he reached his teenage years, his parents were taking him to the theatre to see shows such as Whos Afraid of Virginia WoolfThat Championship Season. Sorkin attended Scarsdale High School where he became involved in the drama and theatre club. In eighth grade he played General Bullmoose in the musical Lil Abner. At Scarsdale High, he served as vice president of the drama club in his junior and senior years and graduated in 1. In 1. 97. 9, Sorkin attended Syracuse University. In his freshman year he failed a class that was a core requirement. It was a devastating setback because he wanted to be an actor, and the drama department did not allow students to take the stage until they completed all the core freshman classes. Determined to do better, he returned in his sophomore year, and graduated in 1. Recalling the influence on him at college of drama teacher Arthur Storch, Sorkin recalled, after Storchs death in March 2. Arthurs reputation as a director, and as a disciple of Lee Strasberg, was a big reason why a lot of us went to Syracuse. You have the capacity to be so much better than you are, he started saying to me in September of my senior year. He was still saying it in May. On the last day of classes, he said it again, and I said, How, and he answered, Dare to fail. Ive been coming through on his admonition ever since. Early career as an actor and playwrighteditI dont want to analyze myself or anything, but I think, in fact I know this to be true, that I enter the world through what I write. I grew up believing, and continue to believe, that I am a screw up, that growing up with my family and friends, I had nothing to offer in any conversation. But when I started writing, suddenly there was something that I brought to the party that was at a high enough level. Aaron Sorkin, on becoming a writer. After graduating from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Musical Theatre in 1. Sorkin moved to New York City where he spent much of the 1. Alabama with the childrens theatre company Traveling Playhouse,5 handing out fliers promoting a hunting and fishing show,1. Broadways. Palace Theatre. One weekend, while housesitting at a friends place he found an IBM Selectric typewriter, started typing, and felt a phenomenal confidence and a kind of joy that he had never experienced before in his life. He continued writing and eventually put together his first play, Removing All Doubt, which he sent to his old Syracuse theatre teacher, Arthur Storch, who was impressed. In 1. 98. 4, Removing All Doubt was staged for drama students at his alma mater, Syracuse University. After that, he wrote Hidden in This Picture which debuted off off Broadway at Steve Olsens West Bank Cafe Downstairs Theatre Bar in New York City in 1. The contents of his first two plays got him a theatrical agent. Producer John A. Mc. Quiggan saw the production of Hidden in This Picture and commissioned Sorkin to turn the one act into a full length play called Making Movies. A Few Good MeneditSorkin got the inspiration to write his next play, a courtroom drama called A Few Good Men, from a phone conversation with his sister Deborah who had graduated from Boston University Law School and signed up for a three year stint with the U. S. Navy Judge Advocate Generals Corps. Deborah told Sorkin that she was going to Guantanamo Bay to defend a group of Marines who came close to killing a fellow Marine in a hazing ordered by a superior officer. Sorkin took that information and wrote much of his story on cocktail napkins while bartending at the Palace Theatre. He and his roommates had purchased a Macintosh 5. K so when he returned home he would empty his pockets of the cocktail napkins and type them into the computer, forming a basis from which he wrote many drafts for A Few Good Men. In 1. 98. 8, Sorkin sold the film rights for A Few Good Men to producer David Brown before it premiered,2. Brown had read an article in The New York Times about Sorkins one act play Hidden in This Picture and found out Sorkin also had a play called A Few Good Men that was having Off Broadway readings. Brown produced A Few Good Men on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre. It starred Tom Hulce and was directed by Don Scardino. After opening in late 1. Sorkin continued writing Making Movies and in 1. Off Broadway at the Promenade Theatre, produced by John A. Mc. Quiggan, and again directed by Don Scardino. Meanwhile, David Brown was producing a few projects at Tri. Star Pictures and tried to interest them in making A Few Good Men into a film but his proposal was declined due to the lack of star actor involvement. Brown later got a call from Alan Horn at Castle Rock Entertainment who was anxious to make the film. Rob Reiner, a Castle Rock producing partner, opted to direct it. Screenwriting career 1. Working under contract for Castle Rock EntertainmenteditIn the early 1. Sorkin worked under contract for Castle Rock Entertainment, Inc. He wrote the scripts for A Few Good Men, Malice and The American President The three films grossed about US4. While writing for Castle Rock he became friends with colleagues such as William Goldman and Rob Reiner and met his future wife Julia Bingham, who was one of Castle Rocks business affairs lawyers. Sorkin wrote several drafts of the script for A Few Good Men in his Manhattan apartment,2. He then spent several months at the Los Angeles offices of Castle Rock, working on the script with director Rob Reiner. William Goldman who regularly worked under contract at Castle Rock became his mentor and helped him to adapt his stageplay into a screenplay. The movie was directed by Reiner, starred Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore and Kevin Bacon, and was produced by Brown. A Few Good Men was released in 1. Goldman also approached Sorkin with a story premise, which Sorkin developed into the script for Malice. Goldman oversaw the project as creative consultant while Sorkin wrote the first two drafts. However, he had to leave the project to finish up the script for A Few Good Men, so screenwriter Scott Frank stepped in and wrote two drafts of the Malice screenplay. How a prepared Canvas can drastically improve your painting. The number one mistake all beginners make is buying a pre stretched canvas or canvas board from a discount book store and not unwrapping the cellophane from it. The number two mistake is leaving the canvas white when they start painting. The first technique I always teach in painting and a technique I use on 9. This is short for toned background and is No. It can be called a toned ground or coloured ground as it can be used in drawing and painting. Using a coloured ground does a number of fantastic things that are not to be underestimated when starting to learn how to paint. It can transform your paintings by making them look more professional, increase the speed in creating your paintings and give you a a fool proof method of creating a tonal mood in your workDifferent artists throughout the ages have used toned grounds in their work, from Turner to Jack Vettriano. Turner used pre coloured sheets of watercolour paper with different hues colours of browns, blues and greys. When faced with a scene he would look through his pre painted watercolour sheets and select the most appropriate colour. For example, a warm brown for an Autumnal tree scene. You can apply a toned ground also called a coloured ground opaquely or as a transparent stain called an ImprimaturaFor our initial purpose an opaque finish is best as it stops the acrylic painting looking too watercolourPro tip It is applied after priming a canvas with gesso if youre working on a raw canvas. What colours do you use for the toned ground It depends on the mood and feel youre after in your painting. Youre trying to imagine whats underneath the painting and then build opaque layers of colour ontop of this. My preferred choice for landscapes, still lifes or portraits nearly always stem from one of the Earth colours. See What are my paints made from Usually either Burnt Umber white, Raw Umber white or Yellow Ochre. For the absolute beginner I recommend using Yellow Ochre. Its usually included in most beginner sets and can be used diluted with a little water. Its also brighter than you think so is good at taking you out of your comfort zone. Using Yellow Ochre can cause some hesitation if you are first starting painting as the yellow can seem too strong, but you just need to have a little faith For example, if you are painting a blue seascape the warm undertone of the yellow can balance perfectly to the cool blues in the scene, adding the feeling of the sun hitting parts of your painting. Pro Tip If you try using the Yellow ochre straight from the tube but still find it a little too strong in intensity for your taste just add some Titanium white to the mix to mute it down it will give you a colour close to Naples yellow. Are your watercolour techniques ruining your acrylics If youre coming to Acrylics or Oils from Watercolour you will naturally use too little paint. Watercolour is based on diluting, Acrylic is based on adding. If you combine scratchy, watery paint onto a white canvas your painting will look amateurish. If you have the same scratchy watery paint on an opaque ground colour your painting will look rocking The coloured ground is doing all the work for you. How does a coloured ground help me Bought canvases and boards are nearly always white. When you have a white canvas any colour you paint onto it looks drastically different because of the optical effects and tricks colour plays on you. As a beginner this can be disconcerting, for example, if you paint a light grey onto your white canvas it will look black. With an untrained artistic eye its really hard to judge colours and tones accurately because of the effects of Simultaneous contrast. Pro tip Have a look at the video half way down this article to see the effects of simultaneous contrast. How much do I dilute my Acrylics I just use waterIt depends on the brand of paint youre using. Heavy body paint will need more water than a soft body paint. As I use this technique on most of my paintings I use a fluid acrylic from Golden paints. This has already been mixed in the factory to a thin consistency and has a good level of acrylic binder in the paint and a really nice strong saturation of colour. You can add a touch of water into it and it will still hold the acrylic bond really nicely. If youre just starting with the technique using standard Acrylics will work fine. Pro tip Some manufacturers recommend you dont dilute Acrylics with more than 4. However, for this stage of the painting this doesnt matter, as were painting directly onto the canvas. We want the paint to grab onto the canvas and soak it. If you mix in too much medium at this stage it can cause a resist to the further layers of paint adhering onto them as easily. Keep the mix thin and lean. Pro tip If you are finding the paint is pooling in small droplets on the surface when you are just using water you need to add a dash of flow release medium to the paint. This will help to break down the surface tension and make the thin layer of paint soak into the canvas. How do I apply an Acrylic Coloured Ground Time 1. Mins. Level Absolute beginner. Materials Yellow Ochre Acrylic paint I demonstrate with Golden Acrylics Heavy body paint white canvas or canvas board, decorators brush I use a Purdy 2 inch decorators brush, kitchen roll paper towel, water, newspaper, Cranked handle palette knife I use a number 4. RGM palette knifePro Materials Tear off disposable palette, Cranked handle palette knife I use a number 4. RGM palette knife, water mister, Golden fluid Acrylic. So heres what you do 1. Lay old newspaper on the floor, or work on a really old floor or table. Mix the Yellow ochre in a jam jarold mug or plastic tray with water until its the consistency of milksingle cream. Student Quality paints will need less water than artist quality paints. Grab some kitchen roll in your left hand because your bound to get some unwanted drips when you first start. Pick up the canvas. Paint around the edges first, trying not to get too much overflow onto the front of the canvas. Angle the brush to minimize bristles sneaking over the front of the canvas. Apply the paint with a scrubbing motion to push it into the canvas so it soaks into the canvas. Place the canvas on the floor or low table. Then working quickly brush the paint from left to right to cover the canvas. When you paint there will be darker streaks of paint on the edge of the canvas because the bristles push it out. You have to keep working backwards and forward to smooth out the indiscretions. Watch out for drips on the side of the canvas and if your too enthusiastic watch out for spray from the brush. Pro Tip I premix a whole airtight plastic container with a ground colour so I dont have to mix the perfect consistency every time. Pro Tip If you are mixing the paint and the water together dont use the decorators brush, it will pick up too much of the paint and be tricky to mix together. Try using a plastic kitchen spatula, old paintbrush. Pro Tip I Use Golden Fluid Acrylic paint as it has a stronger staining effect than watering down Heavy body paint. Pro Tip If using Acrylic ground for oil paint make sure you add water to the acrylic. As acrylic is plastic based it can cause a skin that the oil paint will sit on top rather than sinking into the canvas. Pro Tip If you add too much paint to the initial layer the paint wont behave the same on the weave of the canvas. So where do we go from here Youve unwrapped your canvas and got a lovely coloured ground painted. Now we need to have a quick understanding of brushes so we have the right tools for the job. Resources. These brushes are off the hook, brilliant for decorating at home as well, come with a little cardboard brush house to keep the brush in shape between uses. Look out for sets for sale as these can be really good value. I usually buy mine from Johnstones paint.