Aaron Sorkin: A Master Class in Dialogue for Cameroonian Screenwriters
The writer introduces Aaron Sorkin's body of work—particularly The West Wing, The Newsroom, and films like The Social Network and Moneyball—as essential study for anyone working in Cameroonian film and television. Through close attention to Sorkin's signature techniques of rapid-fire dialogue and the 'walk and talk' cinematographic style, the piece frames Sorkin's craft as a masterclass in screenwriting that transcends American cinema.
If you work in the Cameroonian Movie industry and you never heard of Aaron Sorkin, let me start by telling you “you are welcome.”
First of all, I am a person of words. I love words, irrespective of how they are packaged; song, story, poem...it doesn’t matter, as long as they are well-strung together to make me squirm.
That is no doubt why I have a preference for drama when it comes to movies and TV shows because usually, these genres have a lot of dialogue. And when a movie has good dialogue and memorable and quotable lines, then my day is made.
Which is where Aaron Sorkin comes in. Aaron is perhaps the most prolific writer in Hollywood. “The West Wing” which is hailed by critics as being one of the very best (top 5) TV dramas of all time, was largely developed and created by Aaron Sorkin and he was the main writer.
Listen: If you want to learn how the American political system works without having to step a foot in a library, then you have to watch “The West Wing.” It is the best TV show I have watched after ‘Breaking Bad’.
Aaron Sorkin developed a dialogue technique for his actors, that has been trademarked as ‘rapid-fire’ dialogue. These are extensive, long and deep dialogue that are delivered rapidly. The technique requires the actors to know their lines well and to have practised them. There is a lot, I mean a lot of dialogue in his work and a lot of it is quite immersive. It is not there to fill screen time. It actually makes sense.
Some TV shows and movies and plays he has developed and written for include; The Newsroom (I highly recommend this series), The Social Network (a movie about Facebook), Moneyball, Steve Jobs, Molly’s Game (which he also directed), Charlie Wilson’s war and The American President.
It is a treasure chest for those who are looking at a career in film and screenwriting. Trust me.
For most of his TV shows, Aaron Sorkin’s trademark rapid-fire dialogue and extended monologues are complemented with a directing technique called the "walk and talk". As described by Wikipedia, these walk and talk sequences consist of single-camera shots of long duration involving multiple characters engaging in conversation as they move through the set. characters enter and exit the conversation as the shot continues without any cuts.
I’ll put a link below that shows a 3-minute scene in “The West Wing” which is taken in a single shot as characters walk out of a building with the actors walking in and out of the shot as they dialogue in a more or less rapid-fire manner. I think cinematographers and videographers can learn a thing or two from that scene.
I heartily advise anyone who works in our movie industry to take their time and go through his body of work. There is a lot you can learn from his writing technique and the depth of the dialogue he puts out on screen. It is a gold mine. There are also many articles and videos you can find online about his writing technique that you can edify yourself with.
Once again, you are welcome.
You can watch the 3-minutes clip of the walk and talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il-DowDFDo4
- Wandji Wilfred
Written in 2019, this piece speaks to a moment when Cameroonian filmmakers were increasingly looking outward to international models of storytelling craft while deepening local industry practices. The writer's tone—celebratory but pedagogical—reflects a broader conversation in African creative circles about learning from established international forms without losing local voice.
The piece mattered then as a practical intervention: it gave Cameroonian writers and directors concrete names, titles, and techniques to study rather than abstract exhortations to 'improve.' It still reads as a sensible, unsentimental argument for technical mastery as a foundation for original work. The emphasis on dialogue as a carrier of meaning—not filler—remains urgent in contexts where storytelling traditions are often rich but screen language is still developing.