CONFIRMED: Aaron Sorkin writing The Facebook Movie

Jordan Golson — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:24:50 -0700

The West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin is working on an unnamed Facebook Movie project with Scott Rudin and Sony. New York Magazine confirmed this from producer Scott Rudin, who says that the Sorkin on Facebook is Aaron Sorkin and that he is signed on to write a Facebook movie for Sony.

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The first inkling of the story came from a group on Facebook called "Aaron Sorkin & The Facebook Movie". Aaron Sorkin (and his research assistant, Ian) asked for assistance in researching Facebook as Sorkin prepares to write the script:

I've just agreed to write a movie for Sony and producer Scott Rudin about how Facebook was invented. I figured a good first step in my preparation would be finding out what Facebook is, so I've started this page. (Actually it was started by my researcher, Ian Reichbach, because my grandmother has more Internet savvy than I do and she's been dead for 33 years.)

Aaron Sorkin's profile is heavily locked down -- unlike most users who can be messaged even if they aren't your friend, I can't even ask to friend Aaron Sorkin. I did message his researcher though, to try to verify that Sorkin was the real thing. He said, "I'm happy to verify but I'm sure my name doesn't yet carry enough weight to give it substance," and advised me to speak with Sorkin's publicist. I've left repeated messages with her, but haven't heard anything back yet. Calls to Sorkin's agent were met with "no comment" and I was advised to call his publicist.

The other side of this story is whether Facebook will cooperate with the movie. The juiciest part of the Facebook story is the legal battle between Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and the Winklevoss brothers who founded social network UConnect. Zuckerberg worked for UConnect while at Harvard and after he created Facebook, the brothers sued Zuckerberg saying he had stolen their ideas. They eventually settled the dispute out of court.

A Facebook spokesperson responded to my request for comment with this statement:

We are routinely approached by writers and filmmakers interested in telling "the" Facebook story -- or, more accurately, the more than 100 million Facebook stories of the people who use our products to share and make the world more open and connected. We are certainly flattered by the attention and interest, but at this point, have not agreed to cooperate with any film project.

This either indicates that Facebook is refusing to cooperate with the project (The Unauthorized Facebook Movie?) or is still in negotiations with Sony and Rudin.

The project is in the very early stages -- obviously, since the script writer is just beginning to do research. Sorkin did ask for any stories or comments from Facebook users, but I wonder if he realizes just how many people are going to deluge him with information.

I honestly don't know how this works, which is why I'm here. If anyone has any questions I'd be happy to answer them as best I can. If anyone has any comments I'm glad to listen. And if anyone has any Facebook stories I think they might be helpful.

Feel free to contribute your stories to Sorkin, I'm sure he would appreciate any insight into Facebook that its users may have.

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