The writers' roster

[Werthead]

I was surprised to see the news that GoT is going to have more writers than Benioff and Weiss (plus GRRM for one episode a season), which is appropriate as I was even more surprised back in the day at the reports that Benioff and Weiss were going to write the whole series themselves (which is very unusual in TV scriptwriting for anyone not named J. Michael Straczynski).

Of course, with the enormous lead-time involved (HBO optioned the show almost three years ago) I'd assumed that maybe D&D would write the first season themselves and then bring in other writers for the second year, but in retrospect that would have been impossible without knowing what the episode order was going to be. Now they know, they've only got three months to get the other nine scripts finalised, a couple of which we can assume were written for HBO to look over to see how the series would develop beyond the pilot; I recall news to this effect coming out a while back. Still, with D&D also involved as producers and having to oversee the enormous casting process for the rest of the series and other pre-production elements, it is in retrospect fully unsurprising they have brought in other writers to help out.

Interesting to see who else they bring on board in addition to Brian Cogman.

[Ninepenny]

Bryan Cogman was script editor and writing assistant for the original pilot and is the showrunners' assistant so it makes sense for him to be writing at least one episode. It's possible that D&D will be doing most of them but they got Bryan to do one or two since they are so busy.

Oh, and it seems that Greg Spencer has some form of Associate Producer role for GoT.

[Seanathin]

What they also might be doing is, very heavy in the story break, and then they let their writer go and write and then they take a pass or two before it goes off, like most show runners do, since most of them can't be the writing powerhouses that JMS is.

[Brude]

Writers Assistants and Story Editors often go on to become series writers. It's a way into the world of series staff writing, which can be very hard to break into. Even if he gets main writing credit on an episode, it could well be that a staff (or Dan and Dave) will punch it up a lot. Depends how they divide the labor on this series.

For the record, David Milch also wrote nearly every episode of Deadwood and I think every episode of JFC. David E. Kelley writes most if not all of the episodes of his shows (sometimes it's been for several series at a time).

[Werthead]

Writers Assistants and Story Editors often go on to become series writers. It's a way into the world of series staff writing, which can be very hard to break into. Even if he gets main writing credit on an episode, it could well be that a staff (or Dan and Dave) will punch it up a lot. Depends how they divide the labor on this series.

For the record, David Milch also wrote nearly every episode of Deadwood and I think every episode of JFC. David E. Kelley writes most if not all of the episodes of his shows (sometimes it's been for several series at a time).

According to Wikipedia, there were other writers on Deadwood who were credited (Milch is only credited on 5 out of 36 episodes), but Milch heavily rewrote a lot of their drafts. He didn't write the entire series from scratch solo.

The most impressive writer award remains with Straczynski, who penned 92 of the 110 episodes of Babylon 5 (and provided the stories for all but one of the other 18), including all of Seasons 3 and 4 and all but one episode of Season 5, plus all of the TV movies.

[Ran]

I'm not sure I recall whether it was explicitly said or just left up in the air whether Benioff and Weiss would write all the episodes. I'm not really surprised that there'll be other writers on board besides them and GRRM, though.

Cogman may well have been responsible for turning the marked out Dany passages into script form for the Drogo audition sides.

[Seanathin]

The most impressive writer award remains with Straczynski, who penned 92 of the 110 episodes of Babylon 5 (and provided the stories for all but one of the other 18), including all of Seasons 3 and 4 and all but one episode of Season 5, plus all of the TV movies.

The only person who comes close is Aaron Sorkin who wrote 88 episodes of the west wing before leaving after four seasons. And what is funny is that both him and JMS have such distinct writers voices that you can tell in seconds when you watch something else of theirs.

[defter]

I'm not sure I recall whether it was explicitly said or just left up in the air whether Benioff and Weiss would write all the episodes. I'm not really surprised that there'll be other writers on board besides them and GRRM, though.

Cogman may well have been responsible for turning the marked out Dany passages into script form for the Drogo audition sides.

anyone know woh the dothraki guy is yet? (for drogo etc0

[Ran]

Jason Momoa was cast as Drogo awhile ago. :)

[Brude]

The most impressive writer award remains with Straczynski, who penned 92 of the 110 episodes of Babylon 5 (and provided the stories for all but one of the other 18), including all of Seasons 3 and 4 and all but one episode of Season 5, plus all of the TV movies.

The only person who comes close is Aaron Sorkin who wrote 88 episodes of the west wing before leaving after four seasons. And what is funny is that both him and JMS have such distinct writers voices that you can tell in seconds when you watch something else of theirs.

All other writers pale in comparison to David E. Kelley in terms of being prolific:

Chicago Hope 141 episodes

Picket Fences 86 episodes

Ally McBeal 112 episodes

The Practice 167 episodes

Boston Legal 101 episodes

Boston Public 63 episodes

I only listed the shows where he actually wrote a majority of the episodes and in several cases he wrote nearly all of them. When I was reping writers, I remember at one point a call went out that he actually wanted another writer or two to help out on Ally McBeal, but in the end he decided not to take anybody, I think. There was almost no point trying to get people on staff with him, because he mostly didn't use a staff. He just wrote it all himself. (I skipped listing his credits on LA Law and Doogie Houswer because he shared credits on those, or his various failed series.)

[JungianQueen]

I'd love to see some of the writers from Carnivale take a stab at this. I know they recycled a few writers for that show (including Ron Moore, I think).

[defter]

Jason Momoa was cast as Drogo awhile ago. :)

oh lol i meant hte dothraki language coach. im a noob, but not that much of a noob (i hope lol) ;)

[Ninepenny]

Just heard from Bryan Cogman that he's read all the books numerous times, which whilst perhaps not very surprising is good to hear (source).