Sorkin to Get Facebook Time

Go to Facebook and become Aaron Sorkin’s friend.  

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Aaron Sorkin is in negotiations to write a film about the founding of Facebook. Scott Rudin would produce for Columbia.

Sorkin announced the project on his brand, spanking new Facebook page:

“I understand there are a few other people using Facebook pages under my name — which I find more flattering than creepy — but this is me. I don’t know how I can prove that but feel free to test me,…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.)”

Wait, there are people who’ve been pretending to be Aaron Sorkin on Facebook? What do they do, excessively wordy updates about imaginary projects they’re working on? And what kind of person decides that out of all the people in entertainment, sports, and politics, the one whose identity they will take is Aaron Sorkin? Is it because they think he’ll be the easiest to pull off? I find this even more interesting than the idea that his dead grandmother is using the Internet.

Sorkin requested stories from Facebook users about their experiences on the site, although the film is supposed to be about how the social networking site started. So is he just looking for entertainment? Anyway, ostensibly the film will concentrate on the origins of Facebook as a “get to know each other” application for Harvard students, then Ivy League students, then all university students, and finally anyone who’s got a name (or Aaron Sorkin’s name) and an Internet connection.

I’m generally not a fan of Sorkin’s work, so I’m probably the wrong person to comment about this. I can’t help but think that it sounds kind of boring. “Hey guys…” “What, Mark?” “Why don’t we put together a program that will let everyone on campus connect online?” “Cool, let’s do it.” Of course in a Sorkin script, that exchange would be a lot snappier, with all kinds of references thrown in, and would be about five pages long. Casting ideas? How about all the Jonas brothers?