fraud in the west wing by aaron sorkin

92 Pages·2013·11.3 MB·English

by  William Richert

The Story of the Making of

The American President

and
THE WEST WING
During the Watergate Era, William
Richert interviewed the daughters of
Presidents Richard Nixon and Lyndon
B. Johnson for "60 Minutes."
He also interviewed the daughters of
Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D.
Roosevelt and Harry Truman.
Margaret Truman and Katherine
Graham of the Washington Post
helped arrange the interviews for Mr.
Richert.
In a story worthy of Hollywood, these
lost interviews entwined with fiction
and eventually became the screenplay
for THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT
and series THE WEST WING, where
authorship credit was taken from the
original authors by Aaron Sorkin and
his wife and business partners Rob
Reiner and Alan Horn.
This file is part of new evidence, the
basis of a new lawsuit.
William
Richert
interviews
Tricia in the
Green Room
“Bill Richert’s interviews with Richard Nixon’s daughters in the
White House are among the best I’ve seen since Ed Murrow.”
-- Mike Wallace 60 MINUTES
Twelve years later, following the success of WINTER
KILLS and SUCCESS, William Richert conceived the
story of an isolated President, an introspective
President; a man who lost his wife to illness, now living
alone with a young son in the White House.
Central question: what kind of courtship would the
most powerful man on earth have with a willful
woman, one who is not impressed with power or
politics with a mind of her own. What power would he
have over his own love? How would he romance her
from behind a phalanx of guards and a world full of
watchers?
When Disney said go to script, he hired a young
screenwriter, Kyle Morris,and together they wrote
THE PRESIDENT ELOPES, a full length original
screenplay that became the basis for all the future
revisions and drafts, by some of Hollywood's top
writers, ending with Aaron Sorkin's rewrite for
producer Robert Redford and director Rob Reiner.
This is the 3 page outline sold
to Disney in 1982. It is different
from the next draft and all the
subsequent drafts.
After reading this outline,
The “New-Disney” president
Tom Wilhite set the deal and
screenwriter-director William
Richert hired screenwriter Kyle
Morris to jointly collaborate on a
whole new original screenplay
called “The President Elopes”
Next follow the title page
and first page from the
original version of THE
PRESIDENT ELOPES, the
screenplay that Redford's
Producer Barbara Maltby
said she loved, and the one
which produced all the
future versions, each one
different from the other,
but all with the same origin.
THIS IS THE TITLE PAGE AND THE FIRST PAGE OF THE ORIGINAL DISNEY
SCREENPLAY. (ALTHOUGH HE TOOK FROM LATER DRAFTS MAINLY, HERE ON
PAGE ONE SORKIN TOOK THE LINE “HOW MANY ‘L’S IN ‘PARALLEL’ AND USED
IT AS ‘HOW MANY K’S IN ‘KALEIDOSCOPE’ IN HIS 1994 DRAFT)
FROM DISNEY THE SCRIPT WENT TO ABC FILMS, WHERE WILLIAM RICHERT
WROTE A NEW DRAFT FOR BARBARA MALTBY, AND THEN WHEN ABC FILMS
FOLDED, PRODUCER MALTBY TOOK THE SCRIPT TO WILDWOOD, ROBERT
REDFORD’S COMPANY. THAT WAS 1984 -1986.
AT WILDWOOD-UNIVERSAL, MR. REDFORD WAS TO STAR, AND WILLIAM
RICHERT WAS UNDER CONTRACT TO DIRECT AND WRITE.
AFTER THE DRAFT FOR WILDWOOD UNIVERSAL, MR. RICHERT WAS BROUGHT
BACK AGAIN AND IN 1991-2 HE DID A DRAFT FOR REDFORD WITH FRED
SCHEPSI NOW DIRECTING.
THIS DRAFT ‘THE EXECUTIVE WING’ WAS NEVER GIVEN BY REDFORD TO THE
WGA. MORE ON THIS BELOW.
DURING THE FOLLOWING TEN YEAR
PERIOD OUR ORIGINAL SCRIPT WAS RE-
WRITTEN BY SOME OF THE BEST
SCREENWRITERS IN HOLLYWOOD,
INCLUDING ALICE ARLEN, RON BASS,
CLIFFORD AND ELLEN GREEN, LOWELL
GANZ AND BABALOO MANDELL, AND
LASTLY BY AARON SORKIN, WHO WROTE
10 VERSIONS AND SUBMITTED 4 OF THEM
TO THE GUILD, CLAIMING ALL TO BE
WHOLLY ORIGINAL WITH HIM.
IN 1994 VARIETY ANNOUNCES THAT
SORKIN IS DOING A RE-WRITE.
VARIETY
,

August 5, 1994

"PRESIDENT SETS EMMA"

Oscar-winner Emma Thompson will portray a woman
who rekindle's the U.S. President's -- Played by
Robert Redford -- sense of decency and compassion in
Colubmia/Castle Rock's "An American President."

"...Redford's Wildwood Prods. has owned the property,
originally titled "The President Elopes," for close to 10
years. It came within a hair's breadth of being made
three years ago with Fred Schepisi at the helm...

... Reiner has been involved in the venture for the past
It is crystal clear that Sorkin is hired to
do a re-write, not an "original" as he told year, enlisting "A Few Good Men" playwright Aaron
the union.
Sorkin to draft a new scrtipt. The original was written
by William Richert and numerous top scribes have
taken a crack at the material including Alice Arlen and
the team of Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel.
... Richert’s approach was of a fanciful nature, while the
newest version will have more serious underpinnings..."!
JAN-13-1995 1?:51 FRDN CRSTLE RDCI"I FLIFL]C]TY TO 9121385-:5!68 P.01
JULIA BINGHAM is lawyer and partner of
Alan Horn -- who is soon to head
Warner's production of THE WEST WING
-- here she herself refers to "Bill Richert
-- American President"
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this letter was written by Julia Bingham, later wife of Aaron Sorkin. It refers to both projects as being
the same. WITHOUT BEING CHALLENGED BY THE WGA, BY JUNE OF THIS SAME YEAR, 1995,
Ms. Bingham put her future husband Aaron Sorkin forth as the sole writer, knowing this was untrue.
Nobody knew the writer and the lawyer were having an affair except for Rob Reiner and Robert
Redfor…d.WE HAVE SINCE DISCOVERED THAT
THE AFFAIR WAS KNOWN BY ALAN 5
HORN, NOW BACK AT DISNEY