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troutman · 01-26-2007, 11:48 AM

http://www.georgerrmartin.com/news.html

I met David and Dan in California last fall, when I was out for LACon, and we discussed the show over a long lunch (the restaurant was packed when we arrived, and completely empty when we left, and the waiters had started setting up for dinner). They impressed the hell out of me, and I'm really looking forward to working with them. They're both bright, passionate, enthusiastic. They know the books inside and out, they get the books, and they're committed to bringing my story to your television screens... not a vaguely similar story with the same title (ala Earthsea, or what passed for same on the Sci-Fi Channel). A Song of Ice and Fire should be in very good hands.

As for my own involvement, I'll be scripting one episode per season. I'll also serve as co-executive producer on the show, along with Vince Gerardis and Ralph Vicinanza of Created By, and Guymon Casady of Management 360. I have already had a number of emails asking why I am not writing more of the scripts myself. Three big reasons: A Dance With Dragons, The Winds of Winter, A Dream of Spring. As much as I'd like to be a part of the show on a daily basis, as I once was on The Twilight Zone and Beauty and the Beast, the novels take priority. David Benioff and Dan Weiss are very talented writers, but even they can't adapt a book that hasn't been written.

The novels were simply too big and too complex, and to make the sort of deep cuts that would be necessary to get them down to feature length would have required losing nine-tenths of the characters and three-quarters of the plot. The only way to dramatize a story that size, I felt, was as a television miniseries (like Roots or Shogun) or, better still, a series of series, with each novel providing a full season's worth of episodes.

That is precisely what HBO intends to do, starting with A Game of Thrones. With twelve hours to devote to each of the novels, rather than the two to three that a feature film would allow, we should be able to present a faithful dramatization of the story that will please both my own readers, and HBO subscribers who have never read a fantasy novel in their lives.

01-26-2007, 11:48 AM	#10
troutman Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Crowsnest Pass Exp:	http://www.georgerrmartin.com/news.html I met David and Dan in California last fall, when I was out for LACon, and we discussed the show over a long lunch (the restaurant was packed when we arrived, and completely empty when we left, and the waiters had started setting up for dinner). They impressed the hell out of me, and I'm really looking forward to working with them. They're both bright, passionate, enthusiastic. They know the books inside and out, they get the books, and they're committed to bringing my story to your television screens... not a vaguely similar story with the same title (ala Earthsea, or what passed for same on the Sci-Fi Channel). A Song of Ice and Fire should be in very good hands. As for my own involvement, I'll be scripting one episode per season. I'll also serve as co-executive producer on the show, along with Vince Gerardis and Ralph Vicinanza of Created By, and Guymon Casady of Management 360. I have already had a number of emails asking why I am not writing more of the scripts myself. Three big reasons: A Dance With Dragons, The Winds of Winter, A Dream of Spring. As much as I'd like to be a part of the show on a daily basis, as I once was on The Twilight Zone and Beauty and the Beast, the novels take priority. David Benioff and Dan Weiss are very talented writers, but even they can't adapt a book that hasn't been written. The novels were simply too big and too complex, and to make the sort of deep cuts that would be necessary to get them down to feature length would have required losing nine-tenths of the characters and three-quarters of the plot. The only way to dramatize a story that size, I felt, was as a television miniseries (like Roots or Shogun) or, better still, a series of series, with each novel providing a full season's worth of episodes. That is precisely what HBO intends to do, starting with A Game of Thrones. With twelve hours to devote to each of the novels, rather than the two to three that a feature film would allow, we should be able to present a faithful dramatization of the story that will please both my own readers, and HBO subscribers who have never read a fantasy novel in their lives.