Film Doesn't Have To Worry.

I'd Been Concerned All Along That The Character Of The President In The West Wing Pilot Would Throw The Ensemble Out Of Whack, That That Character Would Simply Take Up All The Oxygen In A Room. I Wanted To Hold Off Bringing This Character In Until The Last Possible Moment.

I Wrote The Show West Wing For The Two Years Before And The Two Years After 9/11. Suddenly Everyone In The World Had Been Through Something That Our Characters Had Not Been Through; The Whole Trajectory Of The World Had Changed. Yet Our Show Took Place In A Parallel Universe. I Wasn't Really Sure What To Do About This. In No One's Wildest Dreams Did It Occur That An Event Like This Could Possibly Happen.

I Had Never Thought Of Doing Television. But My Agent Wanted Me To Meet John Wells, Who Had Had A Lot Of Success Producing Er And China Beach. The Night Before The Meeting, Some Friends Were Over For Dinner And Akiva Goldsman And I Slipped Downstairs To The Basement So We Could Sneak A Cigarette. He Said, "you Know What Would Make A Good Television Series? That." And He Was Pointing At The American President Poster. He Said, "there Doesn't Have To Be A Romance, Just Focus On A Senior Staffer."

I Have A Lot Of Respect For People Who Are Great At Ad-libbing, And For Writers And Directors Who Are Able To Create A Scene In Which That Works.

Humans Know When It's Not A Good Story. Unless You Do This For A Living, You May Not Know Exactly Why You Don't Like A Story, But You Can't Fool An Audience Ever. They Know When You Have It And They Know When You Don't.