The Story Behind How Mary-Louise Parker Landed Her Role On The West Wing Is Perfect

Every year, The Hollywood Reporter gets a bunch of TV’s top-rated showrunners together for a roundtable, to have a chat about how and why they do what they do.

This year, the group included Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad), Nic Pizzolatto (True Detective), Matthew Weiner (Mad Men), Carlton Cuse (Bates Motel, and the executive producer of Lost), Ann Biderman (Ray Donovan, NYPD Blue) and Aaron Sorkin (Newsroom, The West Wing).

It was an impressive handful of people to get in the same room, and they were asked a few curly questions about killing off characters, making spin-offs and second seasons that don’t suck, and their most embarrassing moments as writers/showrunners:

SORKIN In the season finale of The Newsroom last year, Jane Fonda had a throwaway line where she was stoned and says, “I’m going to get the Allman Brothers back together.” After it aired, I got a letter from the Allman Brothers’ manager saying the band had never broken up.

BIDERMAN Oh God.

SORKIN They were understandably offended. But I was knocked out that the Allman Brothers watchedThe Newsroom. I couldn’t apologize enough.

Without a doubt, the best quote came from a question about how these showrunners managed to secure such A-list talent: “What’s the wildest thing you’ve done to land an actor?”

After Gilligan joked about sleeping with Bob Odenkirk (would.), Aaron Sorkin’s answer was completely perfect:

“Mary-Louise Parker, who ended up on The West Wing, left a message on my voicemail saying, “Hi, this is Mary-Louise Parker. Josh Lyman [Bradley Whitford’s character] badly needs to get laid, and I’m the one to do it.” She was in the next episode.”

It makes So – Much – Sense.

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Another chunk of the discussion centered on finales: how to finish a show, and how to follow up a hit (“I don’t want to ever think that I’ve already written the best thing I’m ever going to write,” Sorkin says).

After Vince Gilligan admits he was freaking out while writing Breaking Bad‘s end, Mad Men’s Matthew Weiner asks for a little advice as the sun slowly sets on his show. “You directed your finale, and I’m going to do that. The loss is pretty overwhelming,” Weiner says. “Yeah, and it doesn’t hit you until the last day of work is done,” Gilligan answers. “Then you’re like, “Man, this really did end; it’s really over.”

“Well, this makes me feel better,” Weiner sighs.

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Read the Drama Showrunner Roundtable here.