Aaron Sorkin to Pen a Film About "Facebook"

Aaron Sorkin, an acclaimed Hollywood writer, is writing a movie about the online social networking site Facebook Inc. Sorkin, a playwright and screenwriter and the creator of the television series “The West Wing,” announced on his own new Facebook page that he has agreed to pen a film about the founders of social networking site Facebook.

The word is that Sorkin has even started a Facebook group to gather general public’s opinions for a Facebook film he is writing for Sony and producer Scott Rudin. "I figured a good first step in my preparation would be finding out what Facebook is, so I've started this page. (Actually it was started by my researcher, Ian Reichbach, because my grandmother has more Internet savvy than I do and she's been dead for 33 years)," he wrote.

A Sony Pictures spokesman also confirmed yesterday that Sorkin, the mastermind of "The West Wing" and "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," will be writing the picture for Sony producer Rudin.

"We are developing the film that has been reported," said Steve Elzer, senior vice president of media relations for Sony Pictures Entertainment-owned Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group. He declined to give further details on the project saying only that, "We have just begun the development process, which can sometimes be lengthy."

Facebook, launched on 4 February 2004, and headquartered at Palo Alto, California, was started as a social networking website with membership restricted to Harvard University. Founder and current CEO of the website Mark Zuckerberg started the website as a Harvard college student.

According to the latest report from online metrics firm comScore, with more than 100 million users worldwide, the site, in April, overtook MySpace to become the world's largest social network.

Facebook’s reaction to the film project is still pending, but for now, the company seemingly is not involved.

"We are routinely approached by writers and filmmakers interested in telling the Facebook story or the stories of the more than 100 million people who use Facebook to share and make the world more open and connected,” Facebook spokeswoman Brandee Barker said in an e-mailed statement. "We are certainly flattered by the attention and interest, but at this point, have not agreed to cooperate with any film project."

Sorkin's most recent screenwriting credit is the Tom Hanks-starring film "Charlie Wilson's War."