The West Wing Walk-and-Talk

Fans Love West Wing Walk-and-Talk
Very few techniques in television transform viewers into a time and place, the fictive dream, as much as the walk and talk film sequence. The rapid-action storytelling practice is versatile and can suit genres ranging from drama to comedy, making scenes feel lifelike and dynamic. It engages characters in conversation while they move through a space, shot with a steady or tracking camera, creating a dynamic method to deliver dialogue, introduce characters and plot lines.
In the TV political drama West Wing, that space is the corridors of power in the White House. While walking the cast takes turns handing off snappy dialogue, workloads, schedules and plot drivers, so that much of the cast is presented to the TV audience in a steady stream of character and plot set-ups for that week’s episode.

One of the first and most effective uses of the walk and talk was the drama ER. The show frequently used walk-and-talk scenes in its fast-paced hospital environment to reflect the urgency and complexity of medical situations. The Michael Crichton written show, with special help from producer Steven Spielberg and his company Amblin Entertainment, ran from 1994, to April 2, 2009, 15 seasons with a total of 331 episodes. It was one of the longest-running and most successful medical dramas in television history.
Other shows that used the walk and talk include Grey’s Anatomy, a hospital setting like ER; The Newsroom, another Sorkin vehicle like West Wing, this time in a newsroom; Suits, law firm offices, corridors and elevators; Mad Men, action in Sterling Cooper’s offices; House of Cards, the halls of congress; CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, through crime scenes and labs; The Wire, on the streets of Baltimore. Even half hour sitcoms like Scrubs and Brooklyn Nine-Nine have integrated the technique.
West Wing is the standard for the artform in television. Aaron Sorkin perfected the technique to create the bustle and energy of one of the most explosive working environments in the world, to show off his unparalleled skill at tetchy, abrupt and technical dialogue, and to showcase the witty, likable characters that make up the fictional Bartlett administration spearheaded by Martin Sheen as President of the United States.