Game of Thrones: Your Nonexistent HBO Series Update
Game of Thrones—the HBO pilot based on George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire fantasy novels—is getting ready to shoot next week in Northern Ireland and has cemented its cast. If you're not familiar with the show, you have a good excuse, since it does not yet exist and there's still no guarantee that it ever will.
Still, as James Hibberd notes at The Hollywood Reporter, HBO does not generally like to shoot (presumably) expensive pilots like this for nothing. I'm basing this on no inside information, mind you, but just considering HBO's history, I would guess that the pilot would have to pretty badly screw the direwolf, as it were, not to get a shot at the air.
Another factor in the show's favor is that it has generated a possibly unprecedented amount of buzz and fan interest for a show that has yet to be made. If you want to keep up on GoT shooting and casting news, see the Winter Is Coming blog, which has been all over this, the Tower of the Hand site, Maureen Ryan's blog at the Chicago Tribune, and the blog of George R. R. Martin himself. (Can you imagine J.R.R. Tolkien having had a blog?)
Having contributed a little to that premature buzz myself, I'll point you to my original argument why HBO needs to make this series. I've since read all four of the novels in print so far now, and I'm only more convinced. (Not that the novels are perfect, but they're pretty perfectly suited for HBO, and I actually think that the adaption to TV might improve on some of their flaws.)
Advance fan buzz is no guarantee the show will be picked up, of course. But it is an essential part of launching a franchise like this, and to pass on a show that already has such a strongly invested cheering section would be like giving up free money. (Intense fan interest can, of course, also be a burden, since novels and TV are different media with different needs; to really make a great series, HBO will have to be willing to disregard fans who want to see a literal illustration of the books.)
As Ryan noted recently, if HBO picks up the series and brings it to the next Comic Con, it will be insane. I may even have to go in costume.
-
1
It's good to hear someone knowledgeable weighing in on and siding with your namesake. I used to think odds of going to series were 60/40 ... but maybe it's more like 70/30? Well, cross fingers.
I'd like to add that over at Westeros, we've been following the production closely as well, on top of basically all things GRRM-related. David Benioff and Dan Weiss have dropped by our forum on occasion, and I'm kind of hoping they might drop in soonish. But perhaps people are likelier to hear from them at George's upcoming signing in Belfast...
For U.K. and Irish readers of this site: November 3rd George'll be at a signing in Belfast, and he says some of the cast and crew may accompany him. November 5th, there'll be a signing in Dublin. And as can be seen on his Not a Blog right now, November 11th he'll be signing at the Forbidden Planet in London. Great chance to meet a great author and all-around nice guy, and maybe rub shoulders with some of the cast and crew.
There's also some post-signing meetups being planned, which George and his spouse will be attending (and who knows, maybe some cast and cew again?), for Belfast and Dublin. If anyone wants to get in on those and learn more details, drop by the Westeros forum here and check the Belfast and Dublin threads.
Thanks for giving the production such support, BTW. Quite an illustrious crew of TV critics keeping an eye out on it!
-
1.1
Yeah, I don't know enough to put a number on this show's odds now. I'd only say that at level of investment, it's probably more at the stage where it has to give HBO a reason NOT to pick it up as opposed to giving HBO a reason TO pick it up. Having said that, HBO has shot high-profile pilots before and not picked up the series, so this is by no means guaranteed.
-
-
2
I haven't read these yet, but did they never think of adapting Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series? I'd love to see that on screen.
-
3
thatclumsygirl,
I recall that the first book was optioned by NBC, but it didn't go anywhere because the developing producer left the network or something at the time. Most recently, the film and TV rights are held by Red Eagle Entertainment and, if I remember right, they've got a new development deal in place for a film or something.
-
4
Some of the ASOIAF fans appear to be unreasonable in their expectations. A draft for the pilot leaked onto the internet earlier this year. Some of the people who read it complained about the changes such as different scenes and dialogue. Do they truly believe that it's going to be a line for line translation?
I expect the series would be more faitfhful than Dexter and True Blood are to their source material. But it cannot be one hundred percent.
Obviously HBO realizes that the readers of ASOIAF are a lot smaller than Harry Potter or Twilight. But I think the support of TV critics like James, Mo Ryan, and Matt Roush (any others?) definitely helps.
I don't know if everyone knows this. But if it goes to series the BBC will be a financial partner (just like with Rome). This series could be a big international hit that might be able to put less pressure on the American numbers. Although, HBO's ratings will still need to be solid.
-
5
Would you mind writing a bit more about the flaws you mention? You mentioned the kinda-problematic nature of the female characters in a previous post.
-
5.1
Hmm, I don't want to get into potentially spoilery details in a thread that's probably being read by a lot of people who wont have read the books. But just to speak in very general terms...
(1) GRRM's willingness to go dark is a refreshing change, and it gives you the feeling that there are always real dangers and stakes. But (again don't want to go into detail), his tendency to go the dark, worst-scenario route at times becomes predictable. By books 3 and 4, I was getting to the point where I could predict the outcome certain scenes, and that's never good. [Note: I am not talking about *that particular big scene* that you are probably thinking of--as harrowing as it was, I was fine with it, and it took me totally by surprise.]
(2) Particularly in book 4, I kind of felt GRRM could have used some firmer editing. There were storylines that could have been dealt with more economically, and too much time devoted to blind alleys. (Some of them, to be fair, may turn out not to be blind alleys once he finishes the series.)
These are not major complaints, and I still love the series, it's just not perfect. But envisioning GoT becoming a series, I could anticipate in advance the viewer complaints around season 3 or 4. (In much the same way that, a few years in, people started complaining that The Sopranos dragged.) And I actually think that the process of adapting for TV--which forces the writer to be more economical and to edit--may improve on some of these aspects.
-
5.2
I had a feeling James was talking about the editing in Book 4. Honestly I'd be surprised if they keep the book=season format at that point. While there's a lot of good content in Book 4, there's a lot of filler too. Having half the plot missing didn't help.
-
-
6
There was a family dressed as the Starks at this year's Dragon*Con!
/random
-
7
[...] News: A Game of Thrones HBO series @ Time [...]
-
Interesting way to describe. I've figured that they want to see how the producing team (Benioff and Weiss may be ace writers, but they're unproven as showrunners I think) manages the production, and would be paying particularly attention to budget. A budget overrun would be a pretty bad thing...
You might know the answer to this question: do cable networks like HBO have focus group/test screening showings of pilots like this? I know they do it for the movies, and maybe some of the networks do it for their pilots, but I'm not sure about HBO and the other cable channels and I've wondered about it.
-
HBO does use focus groups and test screenings, though I don't know that they use them to winnow down pilots the way broadcast networks do. Basically, HBO's development process is different--it takes longer to go from pitch to pilot, so some shows may get killed before they shoot a pilot. The broadcast networks will shoot a ton of pilots and presentations and kill most of them without picking up; HBO has a lower pilot-to-pickup ratio.
BUT! I can't overemphasize: that does NOT mean GoT is any kind of lock. HBO has killed pilots in the past from people like Tom Fontana and Richard Linklater, among others; it also shot an entire season of 12 Miles of Bad Road and then decided not to air it. So HBO is perfectly willing to spend money and not pick up a show if that's how it works out.
-
Thanks, James, that answers that question about the focus groups. I very much agree with the words of warning, though. Not a sure bet until it hits the screen, I guess, given the '12 Miles' experience.
Which I'd never heard, actually. From THR, it looks like a combo of a shakeup and writer's strike did that one in, but nothing's certain in the business these days. Will keep fingers and toes crossed, and be ready to swallow disappointment.
- poniewozik Lisa De M: WH crashers on Today tomorrow. NBC: no $ for intvu. (of course, a show on NBCU's Bravo has no $ value!) http://bit.ly/7hustM - 8 hours ago
- poniewozik NBC's Trauma: highest good-soundtrack-to-bad-plot ratio on TV? Now playing: Dead Kennedys' Holiday in Cambodia. - 9 hours ago
- poniewozik Charlie Rose becomes BusWk columnist http://bit.ly/7kqxvM (via @jamesrgaines)--Rose's show has Bloomberg TV conection - 9 hours ago
Most Popular »
- Jay Leno a Failure; Also, Jay Leno a Success
- Piling On Desirée Rogers--Is The Social Secretary To Blame For Two Ticketless Boobs At The White House?
- Looking for Reasons to Care About Tiger Woods
- Health Bill: What Would It Cost Me?
- The League of Ambivalent Columnists
- Stephen King's Shining Sequel: Paging Dr. Danny
- State Dinner, Uh, Fashion
- Is Walking Away from Your Mortgage the Smartest Thing You Can Do?
- All Blogs Must Pass
- Netbooks Are Really Dumb, Or Maybe You Already Knew That
- Want to Boost Your Memory? Try Sleeping on It
- Dubai's Woes a Blow to Ambitious Ruler Sheik Mohammed
- The End of the 2000s: Goodbye to a Decade from Hell
- Helicopter Parents: The Backlash Against Overparenting
- Amanda Knox Murder Trial: Verdict by Friday?
- The Muppets Perform 'Bohemian Rhapsody'
- The Women of Islam
- Dubai Debt: Global Economic Recovery Still in Danger
- What's Wrong with Notre Dame Football?
- Colleges Battle Gossip Websites like ACB, JuicyCampus
Quotes of the Day »
RSS