Sorkin to write Facebook story for big screen

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Writer-producer Aaron Sorkin, creator of "The West Wing," is about to get a whole lot of friends on Facebook.

Sorkin, one of Hollywood's highest-profile writers and TV show creators, is in negotiations to write an untitled film project about the founders of the popular social networking site that Scott Rudin will produce for Columbia.

Sorkin broke the news on Facebook when he opened up his own account.

"I understand there are a few other people using Facebook pages under my name -- which I find more flattering than creepy -- but this is me. I don't know how I can prove that, but feel free to test me," he wrote before going on to talk about the movie project.

"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.)"

Sorkin also asked the Facebook public for any stories relating to the site.

Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg while studying at Harvard along with pals Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. Membership at first was restricted to Harvard students, then expanded to all Ivy League schools before going on to open up to all universities and high schools in Canada and the U.S. The site now has more than 100 million users worldwide.

He's fielded offers in the billions of dollars, but Zuckerberg has steadfastly remained independent.

Sorkin's most recent screenwriting credit is the Tom Hanks-starring film "Charlie Wilson's War." Rudin has "Revolutionary Road," starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, and the film adaptation of the Broadway play "Doubt" coming out this fall.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter