Aaron Sorkin, creator and writer of The West Wing and HBO’s The Newsroom, gave a recent interview discussing The Newsroom‘s ratings, Allison Janney, and his experiences with Emmy wins and nominations.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, The West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin discussed the ratings of his new HBO show, The Newsroom. Sorkin’s problem (and doesn’t he always have one?) isn’t with the ratings themselves, but with the changes in the medium. Sorkin says:

Audiences are watching at a time other than when the network puts it on. Unlike with a movie or a play, I don’t get to experience the audience watching the show. On Sunday night, it feels like I’m the only one watching it. It’s hard to imagine anyone else is too.

It’s also Emmy season, and Sorkin (who has won six Emmys out of 11 nominations) discussed his first Emmy experience. “It was end of the first year of The West Wing, what I remember most was Allison Janney winning. She was the first one to win an emmy award for the show.” It would turn out to be the first of many awards for the hit show, as Sorkin notes. “The very next thing that happened was that Richard Schiff won, and then Tommy Schlamme won, and it had become the most awarded show ever. It was a night I’ll never forget.”

Interestingly, earlier this week Allison Janney discussed her “need” to appear on season 2 of The Newsroom, which will begin filming on November 12 and will air in June 2013. Coincidence, or are these two planning something?

Sorkin and other “Emmy Icons” will be featured in the September 21 issue of Hollywood Reporter Magazine. Sorkin is pictured both alone and with fellow show-creators Dick Wolf (Law & Order) and David E. Kelly (Ally McBeal, Boston Legal).

You can hear Sorkin discuss Janney, and his West Wing success in the behind-the-scenes video from the photoshoot.