The Screenwriter’s Art: “The Social Network”

On Sunday, January 2nd, the NYT had a special section called The Oscars. It’s got some excellent articles and I highly recommend it. 

One of the features they ran was excerpts from four screenplays, each likely to be nominated for this year’s Academy Awards. Today: The Social Network written by Aaron Sorkin:

From the black we hear — 

MARK: (V.O.) Did you know there are more people with genius I.Q.’s living in China than there are people of any kind living in the United States?

ERICA: (V.O.) That can’t possibly be true.

MARK: (V.O.) It is.

ERICA: (V.O.) What would account for that?

MARK: (V.O.) Well, first, an awful lot of people live in China. But here’s my question:

Fade in:

Int. campus bar — night

Mark Zuckerberg is a sweet-looking 19-year-old whose lack of any physically intimidating attributes masks a very complicated and dangerous anger. He has trouble making eye contact and sometimes it’s hard to tell if he’s talking to you or to himself.

Erica, also 19, is Mark’s date. She has a girl-next-door face that makes her easy to fall for. At this point in the conversation she already knows that she’d rather not be there, and her politeness is about to be tested.

The scene is stark and simple.

MARK: How do you distinguish yourself in a population of people who all got 1,600 on their SATs?

ERICA: I didn’t know they take SATs in China.

MARK: They don’t. I wasn’t talking about China anymore, I was talking about me.

ERICA: You got 1,600?

MARK: Yes. I could sing in an a cappella group, but I can’t sing.

ERICA: Does that mean you actually got nothing wrong?

MARK: I can row crew or invent a $25 PC.

ERICA: Or you can get into a final club.

MARK: Or I get into a final club.

ERICA: You know, from a woman’s perspective, sometimes not singing in an a cappella group is a good thing?

MARK: This is serious.

ERICA: On the other hand, I do like guys who row crew.

MARK:

(beat)

Well, I can’t do that.

ERICA: I was kidding.

MARK: Yes, I got nothing wrong on the test.

ERICA: Have you ever tried?

MARK: I’m trying right now.

ERICA: To row crew?

MARK: To get into a final club. To row crew? No. Are you, like — whatever — delusional?

ERICA: Maybe, but sometimes you say two things at once and I’m not sure which one I’m supposed to be aiming at.

MARK: But you’ve seen guys who row crew, right?

ERICA: No.

MARK: O.K., well, they’re bigger than me. They’re world-class athletes. And a second ago you said you like guys who row crew, so I assumed you had met one.

ERICA: I guess I just meant I liked the idea of it. You know, the way a girl likes cowboys.

Of course, this is part of the opening sequence to the movie. In this month’s “Written By” magazine, there is a first-person article by Sorkin called “My Partner, the Director,” recounting his experiences working on the movie with director David Fincher. Here is a great bit of business about that opening scene:

After fine-tuning the script for a couple of weeks in New York with our producer, Scott Rudin… we delivered it to Amy Pascal at Sony on a Thursday afternoon. Friday morning, it was messengered to our first and only choice of director, David Fincher… I got an email. “Sorkin. Fincher. I’m directing The Social Network. Can I come over?”

The first scene of The Social Network is snappy banter between a guy and a girl.

For nine-and-a-half pages.

David would tell me later that when he was on page eight of that nine-page opening scene, he thought to himself, If this girl doesn’t punch this guy in the face in the next 60 seconds I’m not reading any more of this. He turned the page and at the top was:

ERICA
You are probably going to be a very
successful computer person. But you’re
gonna go through life thinking that
girls don’t like you because you’re a
nerd. And I want you to know, from the
bottom of my heart, that that won’t
be true. It’ll be because you’re an
asshole.

The entire article by Sorkin is available online here.

Tomorrow: Rabbit Hole.

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