PALEY CENTER FOR MEDIA, THE: PALEYFEST 2013: THE NEWSROOM {LONG VERSION}
Summary
One in a series of evenings and special screenings presented as part of The Paley Center for Media's 30th William S. Paley Television Festival in Los Angeles. Held this year at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, the festival celebrates the excellence and diversity of American television and is dedicated to television’s creative community. This PALEYFEST 2013 seminar honors "The Newsroom," the drama series about arrogant news anchor Will McAvoy and clashes with his staff at the New York-based Atlantis Cable News network.
Host Betsy Scolnik (vice-president, The Paley Center for Media) offers opening remarks before introducing moderator Piers Morgan (journalist and television host, "Piers Morgan Live"). Morgan addresses the "contentious" reactions to the first season from critics, and then brings executive producer/creator/writer Aaron Sorkin to the stage. Sorkin sets ups a ten-minute clip from the upcoming season two premiere, "First Thing We Do, Let's Kill All the Lawyers." In the clip, Will deals with the fallout from his on-air comment calling the Tea Party "the American Taliban," which causes network president Reese Lansing to be barred from a judicial hearing on the SOPA bill, angering Leona. The news team reports on the celebrations in Tripoli after Muammar Gaddafi is ousted, and they quickly edit a report on Dominique Strauss-Kahn for accuracy, suffering technical difficulties during the broadcast. Charlie then tells Will that because of his comment, he will not be covering the 9/11 anniversary show.
After the screening, Morgan moderates the following panelists: Sorkin; executive producer Alan Poul; and cast members Jeff Daniels (Will McAvoy), Emily Mortimer (MacKenzie "Mac" McHale), Sam Waterston (Charlie Skinner), Dev Patel (Neal Sampat), Olivia Munn (Sloan Sabbith), Alison Pill (Maggie Jordan), Thomas Sadoski (Don Keefer), and John Gallagher Jr. (Jim Harper).
The panelists discuss topics which include: Sorkin's interest in the "noble calling" of cable news; how the "music" of Sorkin's dialogue negates any opportunities for improvisation; Sorkin's "utopian vision" of cable news; Poul's commitment to accurate and realistic details; the show as "historical fiction," compared to Sorkin's previous show "The West Wing," which existed in "a parallel universe"; the show's polarizing nature; praise from Dan Rather and others; Munn's dislike of sensationalist content and anchors who "make themselves newsworthy"; Patel as a "technical ignoramus," unlike his character; Gallagher's views on the pros and cons of twenty-four-hour news services; Pill's views of the "earnest" Maggie and her love triangle with Don and Jim; Daniels' opinions on news networks' choice between ratings or important stories; producers' lack of concern about ratings and advertising, thanks to HBO's subscription-only business model; hints about season two stories; Morgan's infamously heated interview with gun advocate Larry Pratt, who attempted to have him deported; how the "chaotic" scenes between Will at the news desk and Mac in the control room are shot; the challenge of making news stories like the federal budget cuts seem more interesting; Waterston's views on seemingly biased news outlets; Sadoski's enjoyment of working with Waterston; Daniels' "desperation" for the role of Will; the unusual "survival bag" given to the cast members during the first read-through; Gallagher's apprehension at auditioning in front of Sorkin; Munn's decision to dress Sloan in fitted, feminine clothing to prove that attractiveness does not negate a character's intelligence; and hints about possible romantic futures for Don and Sloan as well as Mac and Will.
Questions from the audience then lead to a discussion of the following topics among others: the important conversations that have arisen from the Aurora and Sandy Hook shootings, and other topics that anger Sorkin; whether any real-life anchors come close to Sorkin's ideal; the unusual multi-camera shooting style and "organic" methods of following the action; how Sadoski "ate" another character originally in the pilot script during his audition; Sorkin's initial worries that Daniels was "too nice" to play Will; Daniels' secret for memorizing his long monologue in the series premiere; and Gallagher's newly-informed insight into real cable news since starting on the show.
Details
- NETWORK: N/A
- DATE: March 3, 2013 7:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:47:06
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 109810
- GENRE: Seminars
- SUBJECT HEADING: N/A
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Betsy Scolnik … Host
- Piers Morgan … Moderator
- Aaron Sorkin … Panelist
- Dev Patel … Panelist
- Olivia Munn … Panelist
- Thomas Sadoski … Panelist
- Alison Pill … Panelist
- John Gallagher Jr. … Panelist
- Sam Waterston … Panelist
- Emily Mortimer … Panelist
- Jeff Daniels … Panelist
- Alan Poul … Panelist
- Larry Pratt
- Dan Rather