Page 27 - RICHERT VS. SORKIN THEFT OF THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT AND THE WEST WING

!vfs. Sally Buruester - . Argust 30, 1995
A first draft coutract to-engags my services was lsrrcd by Castlc Rock io Au$st o!LWZ whic.h-c|qg.ty ogted tbat I was eogagcd to write an originat scrccnptay. At that dme, r btgtl I'r"Tg +gP possiblestorylincs pd cbanonior rl" s.r"initay. Over the uert sEneral moutbs, I discussed nrfth Mardn Shafer, ooe of thc owuen of Castle Roclq about a possiblc re,oake of Gore vidal's fit'q 'THE BEST lvIAM. Aftcr ytewing {^t-A+ I told Mr. Shafer thrt I did not scc agy way to etrectircly est 6is firm in a ngrp lighg but therc was a cbamc$er h THE BEST [4AI.f tbas i!!i*111cd.r. TbC charactsr was .*Jst of a ex-president who find hinsclf ia a pcition whcr,{for thc fi6- time in his carcer, hc can say wbatavcr bc rants sitbout cotrceu$ about clegloral
couseqreoces. I iuformcd Mr. Sbafcr and Mr. Rciner that tbis elsureut rcalty inuigucd
Starcs and "a mann at the sarnc timc? Witb this questioa as a juruping off poin1, I began to furthcr darclop Ey story idcas
In March of 1993, Rob Rciner isvitrd Ec to join bin ;s 1 Iueei'ng wirh Robert Redford at tlre Ncw York officcs of Mr. Redfords poducdol cornpary, Wildwood Enterprises At tbat mecting Mr Rcdbrd rold us thrr [g baA ieei'tying for eplg s9u9 tine o derrelop a script about a widowcd president ar Udvesal Picmiuior which hc intcndcd to play tbc part of thc prxideut Mr. Redford asked whether I wol1i be interested in performiug r*rrite scryices fon his proj€ct Mr. Rcdford tben, to the bcst of my recolleaiog nrmmarized the basic story hc was Eyiqg to dcralop at Uninersal in thc following rniunen
His story inroivcd a rcccntly widowcd presideut r*hose dcpressioa orer bis loss has rendered hilo rseless as a presideat l{S'staffscts him up with a girlfricnd. tlc go"s ou into tbc world with her. Hjs relatioDsip with thc drt f instruBentat h tlru glng iunr out o.l his .lcprEssto&
At tbat meeting I told both Mr. Rcdford and Mr, Reiner rbat I was not interestcd iu re-writing someone clset script In additio!, I felt that tho story l\dr. Redford had jrst prcsented was I fairy talc rather rhan 3 realistic tmk behini the scencs at thc Whitc llouse_ (wbi,c.b ry_as tbe ioltot of tha scdpr I was tbel davcloping for Casdc
-go
rna
possrbilities of exploring thc question: Can a penroD bc tlic Presidcnt of-the Udtsd
T*9.
or rno
_Slbseqo:Dtly,
Rob Reiner and I begau lcngthy disctssions rcgardiug tbg dragadc
Horcvcr, if Mr. Redbrd and Mr. Reiner worrH agreo b let trc
daalop my oqm oriqnat_so_*- I was prepared to writc ryCasdc Rock drccnplzy wie an gfle owards LIr. Rcdbrd playing awidswcd prcsidcne
21
Aaron Sorkin's admits, states, verifies and codifies that he heard another writer's story and concept BEFORE beginning to write a screenplay like what he heard (not to mention stealing directly fromt he scripts themselves).
This shows that he was not actually writing any other screenplay.
The screenplay he did write, and the series that followed, were conceived and born from this meeting, based on the work of Mr. Richert and Mr. Morris.
The diaries of Mr. Redford's co- producer, Barbara Maltbyi, corroborate this.
So does the article Ms. Maltby wrote for THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR.
WHY WAS ALL OF THIS EVIDENCE IGNORED BY THE WGA?
Here Aaron Sorkin states again and admits that he was going to take the key elements of Robert Redford's story and use them for himself, and bring them back to the producer.