IN A WORLD where it’s the on-screen talent that usually takes all the plaudits, it’s rare that a screenwriter becomes so revered that his own name becomes as big an attraction as the actors appearing in their work.

That’s the case of Aaron Sorkin, however, a script writer who was already feted for play-cum-film A Few Good Men, TV series Sports Night and movie The American President before translating leftover ideas for the latter into The West Wing.

That series became one of the most celebrated of all time, winning 26 Emmy awards in its seven-season tenure, with Sorkin writing all but 3 of the first 89 episodes before moving on.

After returning to TV with the short lived ‘Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip’, a series on the backstage life at a Saturday Night Live-esque comedy show, he was honoured with an Academy Award for his adapted screenplay for Facebook drama The Social Network.

His latest effort, coming to American screens in June, is another TV-based drama: The Newsroom – a drama on life behind a cable news channel, featuring an ensemble cast led by Jeff Daniels.

(YouTube credit: HBO)