Hello World Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 I doubt most fans are even aware of what’s been happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted February 13, 2015 Author Share Posted February 13, 2015 Only because the fanbase has been fairly inactive due to the books finishing. One thing this news has done has been to wake them up and get them talking about the series again in a way nothing else has managed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hello World Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 That, and you’re overestimating the portion of the fanbase that participates in online discussions. One thing this news has done has been to wake them up and get them talking about the series again in a way nothing else has managed. You have ten people talking about this here, plus 10-15 on Dragonmount and another 20-25 scattered here and there and that’s pretty much it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted February 13, 2015 Author Share Posted February 13, 2015 That, and you’re overestimating the portion of the fanbase that participates in online discussions. You have ten people talking about this here, plus 10-15 on Dragonmount and another 20-25 scattered here and there and that’s pretty much it. And hundreds more on io9, Vox, Den of Geek and other massive sites. My own blog post on the subject generated 70,000 hits in less than two days. It's had a pretty big impact. Whether anyone will still care outside the fanbase in two weeks is another question though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hello World Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Vox sent a lot of readers to your blog by linking to it, but most Vox readers are probably not WoT fans. Since in the past few days a lot of tech websites have spoken about this for whatever reason there has been some interest from non-fans to figure out what all the fuss is about. But we’re talking about whether people would watch a good TV adaptation or not. WoT has millions (or tens of millions?) of fans worldwide. Even if we accept your claim that hundreds of people are talking about it online it would still not influence the hypothetical show’s viewership that much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fionwe1987 Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 I doubt anyone would not watch the show. But fans of books do more than just watch the show. They can be evangelizers for shows. When GoT got on air, a lot of my friends who knew I'd read the books came to ask me if I thought it would be worth watching. I doubt I swayed anyone's decision, but even knowing someone who's read the books and has good things to say about the adaptation can have good impact on viewership, at least in the beginning. As for WoT fans who know of this, I'm sure some of the quarter million people who checked out the Youtube video were non-fans, but that's still an impressive number for a cam version of a fifth-rate infomercial pilot. ETA:http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/fxx-pilot-airing-at-130-773110 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted February 13, 2015 Author Share Posted February 13, 2015 The fan momentum behind GoT when it was first optioned in 2007/08 was immense. It made a number of influential journalists (Maureen Ryan foremost amongst them) read the books and start covering the series in a lot of detail years before it hit the air. That momentum was stoked by the producers involving GRRM and the fans, keeping everyone on-side and doing a sterling job of PR and communication. Right now Benioff and Weiss could flip the bird to the book fans and GRRM and it not dent the ratings at all, but at that point of building excitement and positive buzz (when the series still hadn't been formally greenlit by HBO), it was important. The buzz and the profile was also influential on HBO actually greenlighting the thing. OTOH, even if WoT goes forward with RE you're going to have every article and every significant interview with them bringing up stuff like, "So, how does it feel that the dead author spent his last public utterance trashing you and your company?" or "Why did you sue the author's widow?" Not exactly a great foundation to build on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 Saw a comment on the THR article: According to the California Secretary of State Business Entity Search, Red Eagle Entertainment doesn't exist as a business entity any more due to a "failure to meet tax requirements". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 Secretary Business Entity Search should sue his parents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyoshi Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 *so I can find this* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted February 14, 2015 Author Share Posted February 14, 2015 And it keeps getting weirder.Red Eagle's ability to operate as a legal company was suspended in August 2014, allegedly for tax issues in California. No-one's found any evidence that this status has changed recently, meaning they cannot legally sue anyone because they effectively do not exist. I guess that also means they can't have made this production and that the film rights have reverted automatically to the Jordan Estate.I'm assuming that this actually isn't the case, otherwise the people behind Red Eagle are very daft indeed. There may be a get-out in that they are also using a subsidiary name, Manetheren, to operate under.In addition, the actress who played Ilyena in the episode is Billy Zane's girlfriend, model Candice Neill. Either he's a huge fan of the books or he saw the potential in this going to series and decided to get on the action for the chance of an ongoing role or producer's pay-off later on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 Or someone asked him for a favour and he didn't question it's legality. He could have even been lied to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stannis's birthright Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Eliminate Perrin .!?! I would rather they Elimanate most of the cast then him . He was a Warg long before Bran or Jon and had one of the most epic arc in the series . In the Shadow Rising . My favorite book of Jordan's ..His defense of the Two Rivers was akin to Tolkins Rousing of the Shire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 [b][url=http://thewertzone.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/red-eagle-de-escalates-wheel-of-time.html]Red Eagle de-escalate the situation.[/url][/b] Red Eagle are no longer suing Robert Jordan's widow, but discussions remain "ongoing" about the ownership of the film/TV rights. My guess is that Red Eagle either 1) deliberately launched the lawsuit so they could withdraw it later on as a pre-emptive bargaining chip, or 2) realised they were on a hiding to nothing and quit whilst they were ahead. At the moment I'm going to guess that the Jordan Estate technically get the rights back, but the Red Eagle company retains a nominal producer's credit. If the WHEEL OF TIME TV series does end up with Sony, that would at least make sense because Red Eagle set up the deal, even if it falls to the Estate to execute it. So hopefully a final end to this mess is in sight, because WoT is in danger of missing the boat as other fantasy properties are picked up all over the shop. One thing that is interesting: Universal may also be back interested since they missed out big time in the recent D&D legal shenanigans. If they want a slice of the fantasy pie, this is their best bet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myrddin Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 Didn't Universal just lose the rights to Rothfuss' series? ETA: NM it was Fox, though Universal seems to be in the group of interested parties for Name of the Wind. Thanks for the update, Wert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fez Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 I just thinking about this again earlier this week; wondering where the situation stood now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Anti-Targ Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 On the basis that to many book fans GoT has turned into a shit sandwich after people had hopes and dreams of it being a gourmet feast, I think all WoT fans, should pray to all the gods and Shaitan than this thing never gets turned into a TV series. The story itself has a fundamentally lower audience appeal outside of the fantasy fanbase, and even among the fantasy fanbase it's only the WoT fans who would have more than a passing interest. What live action fantasy really works on TV? It's the stuff with blood, gore and sex, because that appeals to the "adults" in TV fandom. I can't see live action being viable for WoT. It could be turned into an animated series and be aimed at the Avatar Legend of Aang type fanbase. Mostly kids and teen, and genre fan adults, like most of us. But the budget and talent assigned to an animated production would be too low to use genuine talent to make it, so it would also be a disappointment. I give any serious attempt at a TV adaptation a 10% chance of being an actually good TV series with decent enough viewership to make it all the way through the story. I give it about a 1% chance of being recognisable as WoT, aside from names and places, if it gets more than half way through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murgle Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Wait! What?? I never heard of any of this. This property would last for a ton of seasons easily more than Game of Thrones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fez Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 On the basis that to many book fans GoT has turned into a shit sandwich after people had hopes and dreams of it being a gourmet feast, I think all WoT fans, should pray to all the gods and Shaitan than this thing never gets turned into a TV series. Don't mistake a few vocal sour grapes on the internet with the majority of book fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howdyphillip Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 What live action fantasy really works on TV? It's the stuff with blood, gore and sex, because that appeals to the "adults" in TV fandom. I can't see live action being viable for WoT. It could be turned into an animated series and be aimed at the Avatar Legend of Aang type fanbase. Mostly kids and teen, and genre fan adults, like most of us. But the budget and talent assigned to an animated production would be too low to use genuine talent to make it, so it would also be a disappointment. I think you are sorely mistaken on this count. Once Upon a Time is one of the highest rated shows on TV right now. Alongside Arrow, it was the most tweeted about show at Comic Con this year. This is not even bringing up success stories like The Princess Bride or Peter Pan in movies and other mediums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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