 |
|
THE ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS & SCIENCES PRESENTS
AN EVENING WITH
STUDIO 60 ON THE
SUNSET STRIP
By Libby Slate
|
 |
|
Television star Matthew Perry signs autographs for fans.
Feature Edited By J. Bolden • Photos: Mathew Imaging
|
|
|
| Actor/stand-up star D.L. Hughley and Studio 60 mates head toward the stage. |
Early in the Television Academy evening spotlighting Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip—Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme’s much-anticipated new NBC series about the behind-the-scenes goings-on of a Saturday Night Live-type sketch comedy—it was quite evident that those present were in for a rare night of unbridled, unscripted comedy and conversation.
When Bradley Whitford piggybacked a castmate’s answer to one of moderator Elvis Mitchell's questions with his own, unsolicited comments, fellow Studio 60 star Matthew Perry pipes up from across the stage: “Who told Bradley we could just talk whenever we want to?”
The audience erupted with laughter—a frequent sound both from the seats and on stage during “An Evening with Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," as panelists’ barbs and banter flew as fast as Sorkin’s trademark on-air dialogue.
|
|
|
|
Bradley Whitford
|
Matthew Perry
|
|
|
|
|
Amanda Peet
|
Elvis Mitchell
|
 |
| Matthew Perry, Nate Corddry |
 |
| Stephen Weber, D.L. Hughley |
Held September 25, the SRO event began with a preview screening of the show’s second episode. The cast and creative team then entered to a standing ovation, taking the stage amidst a re-creation of the Studio 60 set.
Joining Perry, Whitford, creator-executive producer Sorkin and executive producer-director Schlamme were actors Amanda Peet, Steven Weber, D.L. Hughley, Sarah Paulson, Nate Corddry and Tim Busfield. TV/film critic Elvis Mitchell, host of The Treatment on KCRW, moderated.
While, as Sorkin said, “I love the high-wire act of live television,” the show owes some of its origins to other media: Impressing him as a boy were scenes of disc jockey Wolfman Jack’s all-night radio broadcast in the film American Graffiti, and, he said, “My parents took me to plays. I loved the power.”
Studio 60, as the multiple Emmy Award-winning The West Wing before it, incorporates Sorkin’s musically rhythmic dialogue and Schlamme’s matching directorial “walk-and-talk” flow.
“[Sorkin’s writing] feels like music to me,” Schlamme said. “The movement is the way you work with it. There’s a secret metronome in Aaron’s head, and that’s how you navigate it.”
For the actors, mastering the dialogue is no easy task. “It’s a wonderful challenge, but frustrating,” said Whitford, a seven-year West Wing veteran and 2001 Emmy winner....
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Aaron Sorkin
|
Sarah Paulson
|
Peter Roth, head of Warner Bros. TV; Television Academy chair Dick Askin |
 |
|
Thomas Schlamme, Dick Askin, Nate Corddry, D.L. Hughley, Sarah Paulson, Bradley Whitford, Amanda Peet, Timothy Busfield, Matthew Perry, Steven Weber and Aaron Sorkin.
|
|
Special thanks to: Beaulieu Vineyard and Dove® Chocolate
 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
