Fighting With Aaron Sorkin

A few weeks ago I went to see the Steve Jobs movie, in part because the script was written by one of the best screenwriters working today, Aaron Sorkin (West Wing, The Social Network, A Few Good Men). No surprise, it was a fantastically written film—tense and intimate, with big ideas and hearts on the line. Yesterday I ran across an article in New York Magazine that broke down some of the key elements in the script and included observations by Sorkin himself. The one that struck me as especially brilliant was this adage: When two people are fighting, make sure both are right. It included the interaction below between Jobs and Wozniak, the tech brain behind Apple.

Woz: The things you make are better than you are, brother.

Steve: That’s the idea brother. And knowing that?...That’s the difference.

They’re arguing over whether or not to acknowledge a team that’s been working on a product Jobs sees as no longer relevant to the company. Jobs is about moving forward, Woz is about acknowledging the people who helped the company get to where it is. Sorkin says, “Before you can do anything, two people have to disagree about something. Hopefully, it’s about something more interesting…