The Competition

[cronos619]

I think that if the execs don't know the story they will be blown away by "The things I do for love."

SPOILER: Spoiler Warning

Twincest and throwing a 7 year old boy to his death. I think they will see how this will leave the unread audience yearning to find out what happens.

and does it really get more HBO level of plot twist / shock value than that

[Ran]

Well, there's a document called a bible that would have been submitted with the pilot script, I'm pretty sure, which would lay out the major characters and the general direction of the plot. So if the executives who greenlit this had read it, I'm guessing they're at least aware of where it's supposed to go and won't be surprised.

That said, if it's filmed and acted right, it could still definitely pique their interest.

[cronos619]

Thats what I'm hoping for. Execs have been known to skim over things and wait to look at the product they just dumped money into. And since they probably had 10 to 11 series "bibles" to look over, maybe it can sideswipe at least one.

[bonesmccoy]

[quote name='Ran' post='1589927' date='Nov 15 2008, 03.18']As the Hollywood Reporter news piece noted, HBO has about 10 other pilots ordered for consideration. I thought it might be interesting to try and find what exactly all these pilots are, to try and gauge the odds of Game of Thrones going forward.[/quote]

Out of all the pilots, I don't think there is a real ASIF killer there. The stuff the big hitters (Milch, Simon & Scorcese) are involved with doesn't really stand apart from what they've already done. Now to some, and I assume several HBO executives, that's probably a good thing; familiarity usually equals popularity. But for other executives, and I think to the viewing public, those shows are becoming old hat. They look like cash-ins rather than the innovative and singular programming we've come to expect from HBO. Cop dramas are a dime a dozen, Treme just smacks of The Wire in a new locale, and Boardwalk Empire seems like Godfather 2 meets Mad Men.

[Wintermute]

Of all the pilots in the running, only AGoT is a proven, award winning property. We don't know for sure which, if [i]any[/i], of the competition will come to the plate with a great, compelling story that will keep viewers coming back every week and every season. We already know for an absolute certainty that AGoT has that in spades. All of the opposing pilots need [i]everything[/i] to come together on every level in order to get picked up. I'm convinced that if the script is faithful and the production is up to a decent quality, AGoT will be a guaranteed winner. Even if everything's not perfect; even if there's a stumble or two here or there I believe the series can pull through on the strength of the story alone.

[bonesmccoy]

I agree. I've only finished AGOT & am just a third of the way through ACOK, but the story and characters are just as captivating as they were on page one. I think this is where AGOT the series really benefits from the recent example of Rome: It's strength and popularity had a lot to do with the existing richness and texture of the stories and characters involved.

[Frank Stark]

Bones, be very, very careful what topics you read here in the overall forum. Titles alone are sometimes spoilers.

[Nightwatcher]

The only real competition I see for the series are the other period dramas. I don't think the others will affect the potential audience or demographic at all, plus a couple of them seem to have ho-hum concepts.

One advantage is that there's nothing else like it on the table, making it stand out if done right. Another is because of the way Martin has been writing it: not only will the pilot have a shocking cliffhanger, but practically every episode for the series could have attention-grabbing twists and endings.

[bonesmccoy]

[quote name='Frank Stark' post='1617356' date='Dec 12 2008, 08.41']Titles alone are sometimes spoilers.[/quote]

I've noticed a few already, though nothing that's actually ruined the story for me. I tend to shy away from the forums that deal with books I haven't read.

Nightwatcher, I agree. There's a lot of been-there done-that about the majority of the pilots. AGOT does lend itself well to a teleplay. I particularly like the way the POV of each chapter is presented. It reminds of the way another HBO classic series was filmed, Band of Brothers.

[Lann_Boys'Girl]

Just reading "a dark comedy about a well endowed basketball coach" makes me stare without comprehension. An entire series about the pitfalls of having a huge penis? (at least, that is what it sounds like).

I'm just imagining Joe the IT guy who recently lost his job and whose wife is threatening to leave him...is he really going to be able to stomach 30-60 minutes of "Wahhh, my dick is just so huge! life sucks!"

Actually, come to think of it, the fact that everyone is so quick to dismiss Hung is dangerous. Expectations are low, so maybe it'll blow us away...

[Ran]

Heh.

[i][url="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3ic41d147829e712a6a10e023fa9980d2e"]Hung[/url][/i] has been greenlit as a series. I think that's the first of the current crop of pilots to get that.

Oooooh. And reading further, at the very end it's mentioned that [i]Last of the Ninth[/i] is said to not be going forward. So that's one of the shows that early on looked like real competition out of the running. Too bad for Milch, but them's the breaks.

So, a dozen shows under contention, the first one has gotten the greenlight, two others have fallen by the wayside. That leaves ~9 shows, with [i]Game of Thrones[/i] presumably considered among them, and room for 5-6 more go-aheads from past reports.

I kind of wonder whether this number will increase next year as HBO acquires and develops other properties.

Add one more project to the slate from my earlier posts, [url="http://www.variety.com/VR1117992915.html"][i]The Wonderful Maladys[/i][/url], starring Sarah Michelle Gellar. I keep thinking that some of the shows on my earlier list must have been passed over already, because the total keeps increasing.

[Frank Stark]

I guess with such an eye-rolling tagline, there MUST have been some comedic gold in the script for this to get any attention at all.

I didn't realize this was from the Riches people. I never watched it, but that show seems like a hit with critics. At least the commercials led me to believe. :)

[cronos619]

contemparary comdey, cheap and easy to make, relatively speaking, and it sounds like it will be addressing issues that currently ways heavily on the American Psyche. And they can do a premier in June, after they finish airing their next seasons of True Blood, Entourage et al

[Peter Irving]

wonder if we each payed HBO ten dollars to choose ASOIAF if they would consider it?

[Halfhand]

[quote name='Frank Stark' post='1624184' date='Dec 18 2008, 07.45']I guess with such an eye-rolling tagline, there MUST have been some comedic gold in the script for this to get any attention at all.

I didn't realize this was from the Riches people. I never watched it, but that show seems like a hit with critics. At least the commercials led me to believe. :)[/quote]

[i]The Riches[/i] is a very good show. Plus having Oscar-winning Alexander Payne directing the pilot episode for them probably didn't hurt. With Payne directing [i]Hung[/i], Scorcese directing [i]Boardwalk Empire[/i] and Alan Taylor (Emmy-award winning director of [i]The Sopranos, Deadwood, Sex and the City[/i], among others) directing [i]Bored to Death[/i]; I'm starting to think [i]Thrones[/i] needs to get a big name director to compete.

[bonesmccoy]

Hung = Low risk, lower expectations, higher possibility of moderate success. It's going to cost next to nothing to make, and might carve itself a small and loyal niche. If it fails, no one will even notice - not even the finance folks at HBO. My one issue with the show is it's self-admitted inclusion of contemporary life's problems; do people really want to watch a show about a guy struggling to get by, while many of their family and friends are struggling to get by themselves?

[Brude]

[quote name='Halfhand' post='1624481' date='Dec 18 2008, 14.07']With Payne directing [i]Hung[/i], Scorcese directing [i]Boardwalk Empire[/i] and Alan Taylor (Emmy-award winning director of [i]The Sopranos, Deadwood, Sex and the City[/i], among others) directing [i]Bored to Death[/i]; I'm starting to think [i]Thrones[/i] needs to get a big name director to compete.[/quote]
These shows often have major name directors doing many episodes. "Rome" was co-created by [url="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0587518/"]John Milius[/url], and [url="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000776/"]Michael Apted[/url] directed the first episode (and I think the second and third as well). I have no doubt we'll be seeing a major director along those lines doing the AGoT pilot.

[FM Baelish]

I understand that some on the board are concerned with the Scorcese show as a competitor because it is a "period" piece. IIRC, I was watching [i]Rome[/i] and [i]Deadwood[/i] back-to-back on Sunday nights in 2005 and 2006. HBO will not be concerned about two shows being both period pieces. What they will be concerned with is scripting, production, and interest. If both pilots are good, both will be greenlit. The built-in audience of ASoIaF gives it some (not much) advantage.

[Halfhand]

Two more pilots have been picked up, [i]How to Make It in America[/i] and [i]Bored to Death[/i], [url="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i8cb71d29182efee634bd6ed3788684f8"]according to The Hollywood Reporter.[/url]

[Ran]

Wow, they really start moving. So that leaves 3-4 slots free. That's three comedies given the greenlight, and two dramas canned (including 1%, which was turned down in late October).

As noted in the article, all of these seem a little male-centric, so ... [i]The Washingtonienne[/i] seems kind of dangerous. And [i]Treme[/i], too, really... Getting kinda tight if [i]Game of Thrones[/i] is really being put into the pool of ~7 shows that will get the go ahead.