Aaron Sorkin | No 21

Creator: The West Wing Writer: The Social Network It is, Aaron Sorkin has admitted, an odd-couple pairing. He is a playwright and the screenwriter behind The West Wing, an impressive spinner of complex, uncynical drama and snappy walk-and-talk dialogue. David Fincher is the master of dark, ultra-stylised movies. Together they have made The Social Network, which early reviews are talking up as a movie to define the times. It's also one of those rare occasions when a writer dwarfs the director in terms of clout: The West Wing made Sorkin, 49, a huge media power to rival anyone in the film business, as he linked politics and entertainment like never before and became a doyen of liberal America and a hate figure for the right. In the past, Sorkin has said he wants to follow in the time-honoured tradition of storytelling "about kings and their palaces". Do students wearing dressing gowns in dorm-rooms count? Most definitely, according to Rolling Stone , which has called The Social Network "a modern Rashomon that will pin you to your seat".