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Pilot content: what scenes?


Piper

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Once again. this thread will be full spoilers. You've be warned :ninja:























Here's my concern: the book starts slow, and if the execs don't like the pilot, then the whole things a no go.

So what scenes from the book made it into the pilot script? Will the episode start with the prologue, start with some historical recap, start with the beheading scene? Most thoughts I've heard so far have it ending with the "the things I do for love" scene, which seems like a pretty great cliff hanger. But then how many "exciting" scenes are there? A lot of it is introducing characters, setting up the various factions, etc. I can see it getting bogged down.

So what do you think? Whats this pilot look like?

I will add that I'm not too worried about this, because they must have approved the pilot based on liking the script. I'm just wondering what it'll look like.
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I can only say what I would do...

...but i would sinc up the prologue with the execution to juxtapose justice in civilization with the wildness of the others. Also it would be clear that its the same guy being killed, so its a pretty "WTF happened here" opening, and it only takes 5 min. Then you could have Ned explain the whole Black Brothers thing to Bran and Jon and that's another 2 minutes down. Enter the stumbling upon a bunch of Direwolf pups, and at some point in the scene have Ned or someone say "hurry up, we have to get back to Winterfell... the king is arriving"... so we are at like 15 minutes.

Robert gets to winterfell, acts like a jerk to cercei and wants to see the crypts, they show the whole Lyanna is a hottie and we all love her shpeal, robert asks ned to be the hand and to betroth their kids, and they cut to the Feast. ~25 min in.

The feast should be like a 15 minute scene just to get a good feel for all of the characters, who they are, what their attitudes are, and we can introduce the whole looking glass from Lysa thing as a "excuse me my lord this came for you come look at it in the other room right now" thing and not have it as a separate thing. This could match up with the jon running outside and talking to Tyrion thing. 40 min in.

Next scene is the next morning, arya and sansa sewing (1 min), bran tommen robb and joffrey playing with swords, and all that. They break up the fighting and bran goes wandering through the godswood and starts to climb... 45 min in.

Bran is frolicking on the roof, overhears like 5 min of the cersei and jaime conversation... the things i do for love.... AND THE END.

Dany can lead off episode 2.

there you have it. 52 minutes
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[quote name='Perin Stone' post='1587719' date='Nov 13 2008, 13.26']Unless someone has inside information that they post, is any of this really a spoiler?[/quote]

Spoiler alert was for the books, not for the series. If I understand the policy correctly, we are to put up such alerts for those wander the site looking for info on the series, but have not yet read the books. Wouldn't want to spoil things for 'em.

At least that's what I thought we were supposed to do. A mod can clarify if that's wrong.
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[quote name='Piper' post='1587956' date='Nov 13 2008, 14.08']Spoiler alert was for the books, not for the series. If I understand the policy correctly, we are to put up such alerts for those wander the site looking for info on the series, but have not yet read the books. Wouldn't want to spoil things for 'em.

At least that's what I thought we were supposed to do. A mod can clarify if that's wrong.[/quote]
I am not a mod by any stretch, but it seemed pretty obvious that that was the correct interpretation.

As for what I'd do in the pilot, I'd omit Dany from it (having my druthers, I'd only introduce Dany at the start of E3 - there's a lot of wiggle room for Dany material as there really isn't a ton of Daenerys story in AGOT), but otherwise keep everything from the prologue to Bran II ("The things I do for love"). Obv. some stuff would have to be shortened, but you could keep the meat intact.

The one thing I'd change significantly would be Arya I, which I would move up earlier in the chronology (after Catelyn I, before Robert arrives), and have it be more of a history refresher given to Arya and Sansa regarding the Targaryens, Robert's rebellion, and Ned's relationship with Robert. The audience needs that exposition somehow, and barring a voice-over, I don't see any other way to convey the information that Martin spreads out through the prose of the early AGOT chapters that is the least bit cinematically elegant. That, to me, more than anything, is the primary challenge of the pilot. There's a ton of information to process.
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[quote name='Ser Greguh' post='1587987' date='Nov 13 2008, 15.18']The one thing I'd change significantly would be Arya I, which I would move up earlier in the chronology (after Catelyn I, before Robert arrives), and have it be more of a history refresher given to Arya and Sansa regarding the Targaryens, Robert's rebellion, and Ned's relationship with Robert. The audience needs that exposition somehow, and barring a voice-over, I don't see any other way to convey the information that Martin spreads out through the prose of the early AGOT chapters that is the least bit cinematically elegant. That, to me, more than anything, is the primary challenge of the pilot. There's a ton of information to process.[/quote]The Targ history and the rebellion would be good. It would be awesome to show Robert in his prime and build him up as much as is reasonable so the viewer is just as disappointed as Ned when he actually arrives.
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A lot of people complain about the prologue with the attack on the Nightwatch.

But you know what, GRRM knew what he was doing when he put it in, and it was specifically because he was thinking of it as a teleplay.

The attack by the Others will definitely be in the pilot, because without it you have NO ACTION in the entire episode.

Nobody wants to watch a bunch of people in period costumes talk for an hour. And that's what you would have in the pilot without that scene.
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[quote name='The Scabbard Of the Morning' post='1588133' date='Nov 13 2008, 17.46']A lot of people complain about the prologue with the attack on the Nightwatch.

But you know what, GRRM knew what he was doing when he put it in, and it was specifically because he was thinking of it as a teleplay.

The attack by the Others will definitely be in the pilot, because without it you have NO ACTION in the entire episode.

Nobody wants to watch a bunch of people in period costumes talk for an hour. And that's what you would have in the pilot without that scene.[/quote]

You mean OTHER than the child being flung to his (seeming) death?
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[quote name='fuentez1138' post='1587659' date='Nov 13 2008, 12.32']So do you put the pilot at a 1 hour show or do they ever have 2 hour pilots[/quote]
Both are sometimes done, though usually (if not always) HBO has only done 1 hour pilots. TV shows often did 1 1/2 to 2 hour pilots (less commercial time) going back at least to the 1970's. Often these were shot as one-off movies, with the intention of making a "back-door pilot" (and no, it's not as dirty as it sounds). A back-door pilot is a movie-of-the-week (or MOW) that was intended to serve as a pilot for a series if the MOW was popular and/or well received by critics. TEN SPEED & BROWN SHOE is a classic example - one of the great MOW/back-door-pilots of all time.

This of course is not a back-door pilot, but that doesn't mean it won't be 90 minutes or 1 hour. We'll just have to see. Considering it's already written, I'm sure the answer is well known to GRRM, the producers/writers and HBO. A 60 page script will be a 60 minute pilot, 1 page/minute (give or take) is how they are designed.

[quote name='Piper' post='1587956' date='Nov 13 2008, 15.08']Spoiler alert was for the books, not for the series. If I understand the policy correctly, we are to put up such alerts for those wander the site looking for info on the series, but have not yet read the books. Wouldn't want to spoil things for 'em.[/quote]
Yes, you are correct, you did it right.
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[quote name='Chairman7w' post='1588167' date='Nov 13 2008, 18.10']You mean OTHER than the child being flung to his (seeming) death?[/quote]

If you had to watch a bunch of people in period costumes for an hour talking to each for an hour, you might not make it to the child tossing scene without hitting the remote.

That's why you need to have action earlier than that .

For me, I would start the story with the storming and capture of the Pyke and the surrender of Balon.

That way you can start the story with Theon's introduction to the Stark Household, which in turn acts as exposition to the audience.
The audience will also get to see Robert still a great warrior, so when you see him fat and out of shape they'll be as shocked as Ned.
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I think some flashbacks are needed, and also several political scenes in Kingslanding (maybe Arryn's investigation and his death). I'm not sure of exclude Daenerys story, it's an impactant character and see her growth is important, also it includes some great scenes for the middle of the first season, and great characters associated to her.
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THat's an interesting take, using the Greyjoy rebbellion as the starter. I like it. Would it leave enough time to cover everything up to "the things i do for love..." bit? Assuming of course, that that's where they'll end off. It seems logical. They could end with Ned agreeing to become Hand, but that's really anticlimactic. Hm.
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If you don't include Daenerys early enough -- and include enough of her story -- I don't think people will sympathize with her. Being able to see both her and the Starks as general good guys, despite them being on opposite sides of the fallout from the Robellion, is a bit of a big deal. If people aren't absorbed into her perspective by the time she lands it might change the narrative dynamics later on.

At the same time I do respect how difficult it seems to be to connect her to the rest of the landscape.
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[quote name='The Scabbard Of the Morning' post='1588133' date='Nov 13 2008, 16.46']A lot of people complain about the prologue with the attack on the Nightwatch.

But you know what, GRRM knew what he was doing when he put it in, and it was specifically because he was thinking of it as a teleplay.

The attack by the Others will definitely be in the pilot, because without it you have NO ACTION in the entire episode.

Nobody wants to watch a bunch of people in period costumes talk for an hour. And that's what you would have in the pilot without that scene.[/quote]

That prologue is a masterpiece, because it gets you a weird feeling that there is some kind of shit coming but no one knows about it. And it takes a LONNNG time for people to realize it, but you always knew it was going to happen, but not when.

Its a great chapter, not for the story itself, but for the role it plays in the whole book. It makes you feel like that is the main story, not what happens in court or anything of the like.
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[quote]If you don't include Daenerys early enough -- and include enough of her story -- I don't think people will sympathize with her. Being able to see both her and the Starks as general good guys, despite them being on opposite sides of the fallout from the Robellion, is a bit of a big deal. If people aren't absorbed into her perspective by the time she lands it might change the narrative dynamics later on.

At the same time I do respect how difficult it seems to be to connect her to the rest of the landscape.[/quote]

IMO, I don't think Dany should be included in the pilot, it would seem a little random. However, I like the idea of starting episode 2 off with Dany, and then shifting back to Westeros 15-20 minutes in, and starting with Robert ranting about how the Targs are evil, when we've just seen that Dany is an overall good person.
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