Out of the Margins

“I’ve never written anything I didn’t wish I could have back and write again. - Aaron (more inside)” 

The word “again”, by the way, is crossed out once and rewritten. So begin the generous, insightful annotations of this pilot episode of The West Wing, ranked among the best television shows of all time in publications including Time, Empire and Rolling Stone, and ranked number 10 in the Writers Guild of America's “101 Best-Written TV Series” list. The show received multiple awards including three Golden Globes, 26 Emmy Awards and two Peabody Awards. 

Aaron Sorkin is a playwright at heart, whose adaptation of the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, directed by Bartlett Sher, opened to rave reviews in 2018. With this lot we return to his early years creating wildly successful primetime television. Aaron Sorkin was the creator, writer and executive producer of The West Wing, the American serial political drama broadcast on NBC 1999 - 2006, set primarily in the West Wing of the White House during the fantasy Democratic administration of President Josiah "Jed" Bartlet, played by Martin Sheen. 

This is the perfect time for the writer to reflect on his TV masterpiece, over twenty years later: “The opening of the whole series depended entirely on the audience not knowing what POTUS stood for. It wouldn’t work today.” 
 

There’s a wonderful comment on a piece of dialogue that deserves re-reading in full: 

Josh: What’s that? 
Donna: It’s coffee. 
Josh: I thought so. 
Donna: I brought you some coffee. 
Josh: What’s goin’ on, Donna? 
Donna: Nothing’s going 
Josh: Donna— 
Donna: I brought you some coffee.
 
Josh: Close the door. 

“Donna was originally a two line role. When I saw how good Janel Moloney was I added this scene.” 

With annotations throughout this is a rare chance to go back to the start again, and gain insights from the early days of one of the greatest writers for television, film and stage of a generation. Find out, on reflection, one of Aaron Sorkin’s “favourite moments” from the pilot episode and what he considers to be the “Birth of a theme”, that sets up one of the main narrative arcs for arguably the entire remaining series.