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The seven page dialogue scene that opens The Social Network is a thing of beauty. The multiple layers to the conversation, the way it sets up the themes of the whole film, the pace of the dialogue, the jumping back and forth between layers (answering questions from a page ago at times), the use of misunderstandings to deliver exposition naturally... I have talked at length about this scene and bored people at parties who wish they’d never asked me about writing, but damn it’s so good. The fact it goes back and forth but also up and down means the audience has to pay more attention than they usually would, drawing them into the story automatically by simply trying to keep up.

You can keep your snide remarks about “Sorkinisms” or how all his characters sound the same (they don’t by the way), I absolutely adore Sorkin’s dialogue-heavy writing, even when it gets preachy or smug. The pace and intelligence in his work puts him on the same level as David Mamet or Tom Stoppard to me.