West Wing or… West Awesome?

Here’s a fun fact: while in the last couple of seasons the writing was done by others, Aaron Sorkin wrote all episodes of the first four seasons of The West Wing pretty much by his lonesome (granted, it was at times his crack-cocaine fueled lonesome, but like Denzel Washington’s character in Flight, maybe it was a necessary evil?).

Television moves fast (shooting an episode a week— 30-45 fresh script pages every 8 days!). And there are changing demands of other talent: a featured character is digging in his heels over a change in salary—may not be here this coming season, so let’s turn our attention elsewhere (here’s looking at you, Rob Lowe!). Or someone you contracted for three episodes won’t do more even if you feel the character caught fire because they have another gig. And, TV is generally written and designed to tell the episodic narrative. That is a different animal than the novel. Even novel series have a naturally different pace and delivery. And, factor in that the writer is never in control of how the work is filmed. Even the few who get plenty of control (as I hear Sorkin does on The Newsroom) are still working with a creative piece that must have the contributions of actors, directors, producers, etc. to unfold to the audience. Novelists have editors, but still . . . not the same.

I don’t think we have to give realism so much of a foothold, either. It’s sort of a spin on not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good: real is great, but you don’t need to be perfectly real to make a good story. Doesn’t the truth sometimes fell unreal to us all? I read years ago a parody of “Life of Johnson” called “Life of Don Johnson” (it was the heyday of Miami Vice!) that showed the “real” every waking moment of a day in the life of Don Johnson and the funny came in when we saw how boring a transcription of anyone’s quotidian world is! When I taught writing briefly some years ago, I used to try to get people to think about how while it was a wonderful and fun tool in writing to both people watch and eavesdrop on open conversations, etc., it was worth realizing if you “used” ALL of that, it would be boring. We cherry pick. It’s a writer’s talent for finding the compelling and sweeping aside the dull.

I really enjoyed so much of The West Wing but I thought one aspect of the writing was a flop. I think the characters, while given divergent and interesting backstory, etc., all sounded the same. Think about it. Don’t the character voices of Sam/Toby/CJ/Josh/Donna all sound alike? The same witty patter, the same kind of jokes, the same righteous outrage, etc. Probably because of the style of the writing and the fact that it WAS one writer’s voice shaping the work. To me, this is the hardest part of writing, not just finding your voice as a writer, but finding and displaying the various character voices within a story. And, of course you can make the defense argument that people in that kind of circle do tend to be much alike. You can’t sit in with the band if you don’t know the tune.

One last thing: I think it almost works better to have the snippet of “real life” make an appearance and disappear because of two things: first, done right, it helps develop our understanding of the character, and, secondly, it doesn’t make me feel like something is missing. My example: I came late to the viewing party of “Sex and the City” and after a while it bugged me that except for one episode where Miranda’s mom died (sight unseen and conveniently living off in Pennsylvania and NOT in “the City”) and when her mother-in-law, played by Anne Meara, recurred as a character, none of those four women ever seemed to have ANY family. No parents, no siblings, no cousins who came to visit the big town, etc. A total vacuum. It was just weird.

You know what else is weird? How I am so chatty on this topic today—this can only mean I’m avoiding what’s on my desk for deadline this month! It’s pitiful, really. Thanks for inspiring me and giving me a running start at today’s work!