The Social Network Deposition Structure Explained
The movie The Social Network uses a smart storytelling trick with depositions to tell the story of how Facebook started. Depositions are like formal interviews under oath where lawyers question people in lawsuits. In the film, the main action jumps back and forth between two separate depositions happening at the same time. This setup lets viewers see the same events from different points of view, all while the lawsuits unfold in plain sight.
Picture this: one deposition shows Mark Zuckerberg, played by Jesse Eisenberg, facing questions from lawyers for his old friend Eduardo Saverin. Saverin, who helped start Facebook with seed money, sues because he feels pushed out as the company grows huge. The other deposition pits Zuckerberg against the Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler, along with their partner Divya Narendra. They claim Zuckerberg stole their idea for a Harvard social site called Harvard Connection after they hired him to help build it. For more on the plot, check out the full details here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Network.
Director David Fincher and writer Aaron Sorkin chose this structure on purpose. Sorkin explained that two real lawsuits hit Facebook around the same time. Instead of picking one story as the truth or the most exciting, he wove them together. He said, “Rather than pick one and decide that’s the truth, or pick one and say that’s the sexist, I like the idea that there are three conflicting stories.” This creates tension as scenes cut between the dull deposition rooms and the fast-paced flashbacks to 2003 Harvard life. You see Zuckerberg coding late at night, parties with Sean Parker, and fights over money and credit, all intercut with lawyers grilling everyone.
The deposition rooms act like a frame around the whole movie. They are simple and stark, with people in suits speaking in clipped, legal talk. This contrasts with the energetic dorm rooms and clubs in the flashbacks. It makes you question who is right. Is Zuckerberg a genius thief or a driven innovator? The twins come off as rich rowers with a basic idea. Saverin seems loyal but outmatched. No one gets a clear win, mirroring how real settlements happened without admitting fault.
This back-and-forth style keeps the pace quick. It builds suspense without needing voiceovers or boring exposition. Sorkin noted, “That’s how I came up with the structure of the deposition room.” It fits the theme of truth being slippery in the digital age, where stories spread fast but facts get twisted. The film opens with Zuckerberg getting dumped, sparking Facemash, then TheFacebook. As it blows up, so do the betrayals and lawsuits shown in those rooms.
In real depositions, structure matters a lot to keep records straight, much like how the movie uses it for drama. Though not directly about the film, legal experts stress how clear setups protect the truth in questioning. See this take on deposition integrity: https://vocal.media/journal/how-legal-transcription-protects-the-integrity-of-remote-depositions.
The choice makes the movie feel like a courtroom thriller mixed with a tech origin tale. It earned Oscars for its script and editing, proving how well the structure works.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Network
https://vocal.media/journal/how-legal-transcription-protects-the-integrity-of-remote-depositions
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1514483113
