West Wing creator making Facebook the movie

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 28 Aug 2008 at 12:05

Aaron Sorkin, the creator of The West Wing and several hit movies, is writing a new film about Facebook.

The screenwriter has been commissioned by Sony to tell the story of how the social network was created. The story should have its fair share of plot twists, after founder Mark Zuckerberg settled a court case earlier this year, in which it was alleged he stole the source code and inspiration for the site from fellow Harvard students.

However, Sorkin admits he's none too familiar with the site itself. On a Facebook page set up to announce the project, Sorkin admits he doesn't have the first idea how the site functions.

"I figured a good first step in my preparation [for the film] would be finding out what Facebook is, so I've started this page," Sorkin explains. "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."

Sorkin's appealing for people to share their Facebook stories with him, and bravely volunteers to answer any questions the growing band of 1,500 members of the fan page may have.

In response to one such question he candidly admits: "I honestly don't know how I'm going to write the movie yet."

If he wants our advice, we'd say keep it short.