022: To Kill A Mockingbird
I listened to an interview with Aaron Sorkin on the radio this morning.
For those that haven’t heard of Aaron Sorkin, he’s an influential writer of both the stage and screen, responsible for works including “The West Wing”, “A Few Good Men”, “The Social Network” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7”. Sorkin’s trademark approach to writing complex dialogue is legendary in the biz. If you’re interested in finding out more, he has a fascinating course on Masterclass where he shares just a few of his secrets.
In the interview, Sorkin was speaking about his latest work - a stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s American classic: “To Kill A Mockingbird”. He said two things, in particular, which really stood out to me:
#1
When he finished the initial draft of his script, he realised that it wasn’t very good - at all.
In fact he described it in (roughly) the following way: “It was like being in a tribute band. I felt like I was playing all the great songs but there was something missing. Something about the soul and spirit of the original music had been lost”.
Sorkin’s draft was devoid of everything that Sorkin was known for. It wasn’t really him, it was a caricature of the best of Harper Lee. All the right ingredients but assembled in an uninspiring way. Or, going through the motions but lacking any real soul or conviction.
Fortunately for him, the experience he’s developed told him what he needed to do next. He knew he had to stop trying to be Harper Lee. he needed to stop doing a direct copy of the book for the stage and he even needed to stop trying to set it in the 1950’s. In other words, he knew he had to do his own, original play.
And that’s quite a brave thing to do, considering the source material…
#2
The other thing that Sorkin said, was that for the first time in his career, he had no idea what to do next.
He had no inspiration for a new project.
Nothing that would fire him up.
And this realisation really scared him. Because, without being able to be fully himself and fully creative, he knew he would no longer feel like he was alive. Yes his body would move, his heart would beat and he would be a functioning (living) human being on paper - but he would be completely dead inside.
I really hope that anyone that feels that way can find the next story that they really want to tell…
James
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