just posted that on the other thread... crazy stuff

Sorry, must have been typing all this up as you posted.

didn't they already start filming on the prequel?

The decided not to proceed after viewing the pilot it sounds like

The way HBO and most networks work is that they pay for and film the pilot first. Then they review/consider the pilot and decide if it's going to "go to series" / decide if they're going to make the rest of the first-season episodes. So, in this instance, HBO saw the completed pilot and essentially said, "No thanks."

And what's crazy is that they went ahead with a mess of a pilot for GoT. So it must have been just awful.

Just to be clear, again, they had nothing to do with this spin-off. It was just weird how close this announcement was to everything else that just went down. That said, Benioff, at least, was an extremely prominent screenwriter before GoT. He's no fraud. I just can't remember the last time we saw a fall from grace like this. Though, they ARE "falling" face-first into a massive, multi-million dollar Netflix deal, so it's not all bad.

Yeah, seriously. I mean, they could have released a truly terrible spin-off and it still would have done insane numbers based on name brand alone. So this is pretty shocking.

And for the record, there IS still another spin-off in development...

Quote:

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The news comes shortly after word of HBO nearing a deal to produce a second pilot based in the world of Game of Thrones, from the minds of author George R.R. Martin and Ryan J. Condal. The series is said to focus on the reign of Targaryen kings in the lead-up to the events of Game of Thrones, aligning the vision of the project much more closely to the days of Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) than the now scrapped Naomi Watts-starring prequel though still quite a bit earlier than the events of the Emmy-winning HBO series, which wrapped its final season in the spring of 2020.

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Their comments about trying to get the show to have mass appeal was put in a negative light, and it really shouldn't.

The fact that they became hugely popular even with non-fantasy watchers is to be commended, imo.

But of course, everyone is running with the headline that they were "gearing it towards NFL players" or whatever. Super sensationalist and reductive.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90423873/the-unbelievable-timeline-of-how-benioff-and-weiss-went-from-game-of-thrones-gods-to-star-wars-goats

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October 25, 2019 Release dates for new Star Wars trilogy announced

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This is the one I can't make sense of, and actually bothers me quite a bit.

They MUST have known D&D were on their way out by then, right? And if so, what the hell are they actually announcing if they don't even have anything developed yet?

Also, that date is wrong. I assume it should be August 25?

Wait, that announcement date has to be wrong. Disney announced those release dates months ago.

Just saw your edit. Yeah, that sounds right.

But even then, how could they be announcing dates before they even have freaking scripts? It's just non-sensical.

That I can actually understand, as it happens all the time. Studios need to plant their flags on release dates way in advance, especially when it's that prime December weekend. So Benioff & Weiss probably pitched an idea for a trilogy that Lucasfilm loved, with the plan to write the first script when they were done with Game of Thrones. My guess is they would then write/develop the script over '19/'20, shoot in '21/'22, and release at the end of '22. That's a perfectly normal schedule. But whatever happened since GoT ended, whether it was the poor reception, the Netflix deal they signed, or a combination of the the two along with other factors we don't know about yet, B&W either bailed or were let go, and here we are.

That said, I do still think Disney/Lucasfilm release a SW film on that December '22 date. It's not too late at all.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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But even then, how could they be announcing dates before they even have freaking scripts? It's just non-sensical.

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Hype machine. Remember when there supposedly was going to be an Obi Wan movie?

I wonder how far along any of this stuff really is when Disney is making big announcements to hype up shareholders or whomever.

Sidenote: looking up Naomi Watts, I can't believe she's 51 now. Seems like just yesterday I was fapping to her scenes in Mulholland Drive. Sucks for an actress her age to lose a premium series lead like this.

I hear you, but I guess I just assumed they were farther down the line in development when they made those announcements. But they hadn't even started writing, I don't think. Just seems crazy. I wonder if they announced those dates not even knowing if they'd be releasing the D&D or the Rian Johnson movies, but instead just wanted to plant the flags.

TCTTS said:

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Just to be clear, again, they had nothing to do with this spin-off. It was just weird how close this announcement was to everything else that just went down. That said, Benioff, at least, was an extremely prominent screenwriter before GoT. He's no fraud. I just can't remember the last time we saw a fall from grace like this. Though, they ARE "falling" face-first into a massive, multi-million dollar Netflix deal, so it's not all bad.

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What constitutes benioffs extensive writing credits prior to GOT that would preclude him from being a fraud? Troy or XMen Origins Wolverine?

Most writers of his ilk are far more than their IMDB credits. Benioff was a huge script doctor/fixer for years. Studios bring in big hitters like him to do uncredited work when they're in a pinch or just want a quick polish on something. Kind of like a closer in baseball.

Any notable scripts that he fixed?

No clue. That info usually isn't released publicly.

The panel isn't as bad as I was expecting, other than the part where they stepped away from filming in the final season. Other than that, you could get a lot of similar comments from Peter Jackson/Fran Walsh/Philippa Boyens in the LOTR special features. These projects are so crazy ambitious that no one can possibly be qualified and there is an infinite amount of work to get done in a finite amount of time. The only way to achieve so much is coffee, hope, raw genius, and irrational ambition, in no particular order.

That said, between season 8 and Star Wars, I wonder if B&W got burnt out and should really take a few years doing screenwriting or something they are comfortable with to recharge.