“The script is not the most important thing; the script is the thing.” – Robert A. Berman
George R. R. Martin’s recent comments at C2E2 regarding his current GAME OF THRONES episode script (episode eight) brings to mind once more the most important part of this HBO production: the writing. Casting choices get all the pub, glitz, and glamor; music is wonderful and necessary; costuming, visual design and CGI are all very sexy, indeed (though I would politely pass on seeing Alfie Allen kick a severed head toward us in trendy 3D), and a hefty budget is always good to have …
But the writing is ultimately what will make or break this series. An adaptation loses the burden of plot creation but gains an 800 lb. gorilla in the form of weighty expectations. A Song of Ice and Fire is beloved; few of you would be here without a strong attachment to Martin’s books, and while many of us can disagree on what will make the series a great one, we can all pretty much agree on a shared hope of mind-blowing, gut-wrenching, heart-piercing success.
Dave, D.B., Jane, Bryan, and of course George have been tasked with the actual writing, getting this thing off the ground, pleasing the rabid fanbase whilst* creating something that will more importantly entice and hold a mainstream audience. HBO has given them seemingly simple parameters: adapt the story told in A Game of Thrones in ten 1-hour episodes.
Hell, that’s easy, right? Not much of a gauntlet; The Fellowship of the Ring had a lot less page space than we’re being given.
But not so fast. What is non-vital, exactly? George recently mentioned Peter Jackson’s trilogy as inspiration, but where do we find the Tom Bombadil of this series? That’s not the easiest thing to quantify. Discussions have already raged hot and heavy regarding what might be cut from the show; vital characters like Renly Baratheon have been mentioned alongside the seemingly innocuous Old Nan, readied by you for the proverbial chopping block. And what scenes might be tossed? Epiphany-producing scenes like Bran’s three-eyed crow dreams have been thought by some to be “cheesy,” or worse, unnecessary.
Apples, oranges; Peter, Paul; we’ve heard it all. So we here at Winter Is Coming have decided to throw the proverbial gauntlet back at you, the fans and future viewers of GAME OF THRONES: we want you to do the damned outline yourselves.
Fire And Blood: I have, as faithfully as I could, recreated A Game of Thrones in a scene outline format. I have omitted virtually nothing from the book; every scene and nearly every named character from A Game of Thrones have been included, with only the most minimal license given where I considered it absolutely necessary. I have added my best approximation of the minimum amount of pages I believe will be needed in adapting each scene, but these approximations are just that–approximations–and I may, of course, be wrong. That’s up to you all to decide.
Here is my season 1 outline, minus episode 1 (we already know its contents from the leaked pilot script).
The Game: recreate the MOST LIKELY script outline for each episode. Keep in mind a typical script will need to be around 60 pages, barring a surprise 2-hour season finale (I wouldn’t recommend it). Don’t be afraid to chop my offered scenes in half, or play around with ‘em to make them work; this is NOT an official outline by any stretch of the imagination, it’s your artistic vision based on the book. I’m curious to see what we come up with.
Keep in mind a few hard, fast rules: 1. Try not to split scenes where the word CONTINUOUS is used as a part of the scene heading, as it’s continuing directly from the previous scene. 2. Do not begin an episode with a character you will not return to at some point later in that episode. Yes, GAME OF THRONES will be a series with many different characters and varying locations, but think of each episode as a mini-arc all its own, each with its own story-within-a-story to tell. An episode that begins with Bran exclaiming “His name is Summer” needs to return to Bran at some other point in the episode.
Do the entire season if you want, but don’t post it yet. Newcomers to Winter Is Coming can find my outline of episode 2 here, as well as Winter’s outline for episode 3 here. Feel free to do your own versions of episodes 2 and 3 and post them in the appropriate thread as well.
In a few days’ time I will begin a new article titled SCRIPTING EPISODE 4, wherein I will offer my vision of the episode and we will discuss what many of you think we’ll see there. Perhaps a month later we’ll get to episode 5, then 6, etc. You get the picture.
I challenge our gentle readers to think outside the box, to see what you can come up with as the most logical way to tell a gripping, entertaining story. Feel free to add scenes you think might fit, or to subtract scenes–and even characters. If you think the roles of Shagga, Conn, Timmett, Ulf, and Chella can all be played by the same mountain clansman … hey. More power to you. Maybe you don’t even find them necessary.
When the show hits in spring of 2011, it will be interesting to see who gets closest to the finalized product.
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42 Comments
*whilst is ©Adam Whitehead and used with permission, all rights reserved
Fire And BloodQuote Reply
Haha! I was wondering what that asterisk was all about.
Winter Is ComingQuote Reply
Note on the season 1 breakdown: names and locations are CAPITALIZED when introduced for the first time (locations will also likely have ESTABLISHING shots, and are not capitalized if the introductory scene is a flashback or dream sequence).
Fire And BloodQuote Reply
I haven't worried very much about the script, because I think True Blood was done extremely well, so I assume that with the same leadership, the quality of writing should be as good. And with George involved in the writing process, we know that the right changes will be made, because he knows where the characters are headed,
HannahQuote Reply
On my latest reread I've noticed a lot of the narrative is flashback and recollecting based. I'm guessing that'll be kind of hard to pull of without going the voice-over (done nicely in Dexter), and flashback (a la Lost) way.
silveriusQuote Reply
Something happened to my post.
I just wanted to say Wow! to FB and his outline.
@The_Rabbit01Quote Reply
agreed Ashli — any character who didnt do anything crucially important like Davos. He was really only used because GRRM needed someone to narrate a few very important events that could just be "shown" in a tv show.
TonySopranoQuote Reply
Keep in mind characters like Davos, Stannis, and Melisandre won't be appearing until season 2. We're still trying to figure out who will get hacked from season 1.
Fire And BloodQuote Reply
I think I'm too dumb for this article.
Who is Robert A. Berman? Wait, I don't want to know. So, I guess this means George guy is doing episode 8 script. Okay, sooooo…..
RE: "When the show hits in spring of 2011, it will be interesting to see who gets closest to the finalized product." —Not as interesting as seeing the show! By the way, who calls a tv show "finalized product"?
Okay okay I admit it, I just want casting news.
Sarah Ha HaQuote Reply
I wondered that myself :P
Hear Me RoarQuote Reply
Muff,
I should have said "property," as that's what they're actually called.
Sad, but true.
Fire And BloodQuote Reply
Also, you cannot cut characters that, while they seem to not have overall importance to the show in the published books, will likely have significant importance in the books to come. Ie. Davos.
It could be argued that in this case you could simply introduce them at a later date. But I think the point is that we get to know the character well and really care about what happens to him.
HostylQuote Reply
As "crazy" as F&B, but with less imagination and commitement, while ago, I did a list of chahcters for season I and divided them into 5 groups.
I tried to be objective and I made groups not by my own whishes, but rather by some rational criteria.
Group I – Major ones – crucial for the main plotlines – 100% in – Littlefinger, Varys, Pycelle, Tywin, Lysa and Robert Arryn, Walder Frey, Hodor, Mormont, Samwell, MMD
Group II – "Small roles" but inevitable – 95% in – Loras, Renly, Gregor, Syrio, Payne, Slynt, Barristan, Shae, Bronn, Blackfish, Edmure, Thorne, Maester Aemon, Pyp or Grenn, Osha, Bolton.
Group III – Love to see them, but…- 50% in – Gendry, Thoros, Beric, Great John, Yoren, Podrick Payne, Mya
Group IV – Probably present but unnamed – 20% in – Clans, Lord Rosby, Jalabhar, Lollys, Irry..etc.
Group V – Do not know what to do with them – big question mark group – Kevan and Lancel.
You can suggest, add, cut or whatever you want…
@The_Rabbit01Quote Reply
Davos is the angel on Stannis' shoulder to Melisandre's devil. Stannis would cease to be a complex and interesting character without Davos around.
FilliamHMuffmanQuote Reply
You don't need him in the first season but he's crucial in the later books.
Jarred MelanconQuote Reply
We make actually see Stannis in a quick flash to show that there are three brothers but definitely no speaking parts.
Jarred MelanconQuote Reply
I would never have used the word "whilst" had I never encountered Werthead prose.
Fire And BloodQuote Reply
I think the addition of Roj is a clue. I expect we'll bypass Osha and the rest of the wildlings, as well as probably drop Old Nan. Roj will become our source for rumors, stories of the north. We'll also do without Shae, and let Roj fill that roll.
DevilstowerQuote Reply
Continuing from the last thread, what characters would you cut outright?
I think Davos could easily go. I like him, but he really does only serve as a viewpoint into more important characters. Bran's role could be reduced significantly until his plotline becomes a bit more important.
AshliQuote Reply
There are also a good amount of Davos scenes that have tension not to mention his POV in the King's Landing battle. He serves to remind the audience that Stannis isn't completely evil.
Jarred MelanconQuote Reply
Off Topic: GRRM has posted about c2e2 on his blog. Looks like I'm going to have to up my comic book budget for all the adaptations he has in the works. Also seems he spoke with Mo Ryan…and if he tells us what they talked about, he'll have to kill us.
Phoenix_tornQuote Reply
Removing Davos would also completely change the trajectory of the story. Without Davos' influence, a number of key events on Dragonstone would almost certainly go differently. Melisandre almost certainly sacrifices Edric, and if that works, the war of the seven kings probably goes much differently. If it doesn't, Melisandre is revealed as fraudulent or incompetent.
They could hypothetically try and merge Davos with Stannis, making him more conflicted about following Melisandre's advice, but I think that would make for a much less believable situation. If he's only hesitantly trusting her, he'd probably boot her out at the first mention of murdering children.
DemokritosQuote Reply
I assume you mean Ros? I don't see how that would work. Ros is a whore in King's Landing. The characters who need stories about the North are in Winterfell. I could see her accompanying Tyrion on his brief solo trip to Winterfell, and deciding to stay there (though even that's a bit contrived), but then how does she fill Shae's role?
All that aside, why would she know about the north in the first place? I suppose she has the same hair color as Ygritte (assuming HBO didn't just decide to go with Esme's natural color), but that's the same color as Melisandre's hair as well, and I doubt Wildling villages are a popular place to scout for prostitutes.
She might fill the role of Shae and Shae only, but that doesn't seem likely either. Esme doesn't have the right look for that particular role, IMO. (SPOILERS) Shae's supposed to remind Tyrion of his innocent first love, so even though she turns out to be a conniving backstabber(/SPOILERS), she needs to look innocent. Esme's definitely not hard on the eyes, but she's not the right type to replace Shae.
DemokritosQuote Reply
Am I the only one who thinks they were talking about casting maybe. I know he hates it when we start to read to far in to his posts but man that just feels like he has some news.
GrimtuesdayQuote Reply
This is what we have from Mo Ryan so far:
* On Saturday, I interviewed George R.R. Martin, author of the book series on which "Game of Thrones" is based (he was in Chicago for the C2E2 convention). We talked for a long time about Martin's own experiences in the television industry (he spent 10 years working on "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Twilight Zone," among other projects), about the next "A Song of Ice and Fire" book (no, he's not done yet) and about his interaction with his devoted fans.
* One little snippet from the interview, which should appear here later this week or early next week:
"The irony of 'A Game of Thrones' and where we are now is, I wrote the books almost in reaction to my years in television," said Martin, who confirmed that he is writing the eighth episode of "Thrones" first season. "My scripts were always too long, they were always too expensive. I was always having to cut them. There were too many characters, too many matte paintings. 'We can't have all these matte paintings, we can't have this giant battle scene that you've written because we can only afford 12 extras.'
"So when I went back to books, I said, 'I don't care about any of that any more. I'm going to write a story that's going to be as gigantic a story as I want. I'm going to have hundreds of characters, gigantic battles, magnificent castles and vistas — all the things I couldn't do in television, I'm going to do in these books and I hope people like it.' So now here we are doing it for television. But fortunately it's David and Dan [David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the executive producers of the series] who have to figure out all the problems, not me."
HostylQuote Reply
I added all the pages up and it comes to 597. Over nine episodes that comes to 66.33 pages each. So not a lot needs to be cut. I don't think a lot was cut from the pilot either, so it makes sense.
When I read the pilot immediately after reading the part of the book it covered, it read just like an abbreviated version of the same events, not like much stuff was cut. I'd except the whole season to go the same way.
pualoQuote Reply
Pycelle is 100% crucial to the main plotlines? I beg to differ…
LexQuote Reply
I'm not even sure Rickon is safe.
LexQuote Reply
I have no idea what you're talking about.
LexQuote Reply
A new low for you, Steve.
LexQuote Reply
If True Blood is any indication of adaptation approaches I shudder to think how awful GOT could be. I get the impression ASOIAF will be adapted much more faithfully than what Alan Ball has done to the Sookie Stackhouse novels.
dimensionallyTQuote Reply
Ditto
dimensionallyTQuote Reply
If I weren't fighting a nasty virus, i'd take a crack at this.
Critical_GeekQuote Reply
I do not consider Brans crow-dreams as cheesy or unimportant at all. They are one of the first glimpses on the slowly erupting magic and imho crucial to the characters development. If Bran's storyline is being told, they almost have to mention the crow.
IriQuote Reply
Deleted comments here at WiC? I thought ppl here could behave. :-) Curious what he said though :-P
Thanks for the news Hostyl
covenantQuote Reply
Part 1 of 2 posts:
I honestly dont think any characters should be "cut" as such, just reduced in scope.
Battlestar Galactica is an example of a show that had tons of characters. Being a total nerd, and someone who is working on a book myself, I counted all the characters in Battlestar who were in more than one episode – including reporters, marines and pilots who only said a line once a season but who added a sense of depth to the fictional world – there were over 50. All of these had names but probably 15 are names nobody can remember.
I did so also with A Song of Ice And Fire, and I counted over 120 named characters. Many of these are just names like Donal Noye, Chett, Lord Karstaark, Jason Mallister, the Black Fish, Irri, Jiqui, Ser Lancel, Set Loras, Jory, Biter, Ser Kevan, etc who dont really have to be named at all in the series – the TV fans dont need to follow who they are, but I think hardcore fans like us would be miffed if they were cut out altogether.
(continued…)
Dolorous DaveQuote Reply
Part 2 of 2 posts:
For example, there should be an old woman (Nan) who we see looking after Bran, but she doesnt necessarily have to have any dialogue. Donal Noye and many of the Nights Watch could be just familiar faces whose names really dont need to be known to the tv viewers but who fans of the book can identify based on their small roles. For example the handsome blue-armoured knight who Gregor Clegane tries to kill in the tourney – the series doesnt necessarily have to name him, as long as us fans know that he wasnt cut out of the universe altogether.
As for cutting out people like Renly or Davos, I think this would be terrible. Renly's story is short but interesting, and without him would they have to rename it the War of Four Kings? And where does Brienne come from if Catelyn doesnt meet her in Renly's camp? Its fine simplifying it down by just having Renly as another of Robert's brothers who Stannis is competing with, and all his dialogue -from the first scene when he announces Brienne the winner of the Tourney until his death- can all take place in one episode.
(continued….sorry this turned into 3 posts instead of 2….)
Dolorous DaveQuote Reply
Final part!….
TV shows often have once-off characters who only appear in one episode. So smart writing can make sure that not too many characters are in each episode, as the sub-stories are spread out carefully by the scriptwriters, which they'll have to do anyway.
As for Davos, he is very important because his history (e.g. the story of his fingers) is key to illustrating the character of Stannis – a just man, but with no sense of mercy.
Characters like Davos or Renly could be reduced in scope perhaps, and others like Loras, Donal Noye, Lancel, the Blackfish, Thoros the Red Priest, Doreah etc etc can appear onscreen without being named. But I would hate if they rewrote the story to cut out characters when they can just leave them as familiar faces in the background as many series do.
Dolorous DaveQuote Reply
I fear for Renly, but I wonder how they’ll bring in the Tyrells so late into the Game and make it realistic if they are right in the middle of the bloody continent. Or maybe they won’t mention that but…then, how is King’s Landing suffering from hunger? Or will they cut that too? But then, we don’t get Sandor rescuing Sansa…
I think Bran and later Davos will see their parts significantly reduced. And the writers will be asking Martin now if Rickon is going to do anything relevant, because otherwise he’s out.
I also think that a significant part of Cat’s chapters and many court details in Ned’s can be left out without too many problems. Tyrion’s adventures in the mountains with Bronn could also be cut out. Bronn probably won’t, because his duel in the valley is one of the first fighting scenes in the series.
On the other hand, I think some characters should show up sooner than they did in the books; definitely Stannis, for a start. Tywin too, and he should appear much more than he does; Jaime most assuredly will, too. We may even get early Tyrells apart from Loras.
Dondarrion’s Robin Hood-esque plot could be cut entirely without a probalme, but I wonder about Lady Stoneheart.
Also, Sandor could probably be cut entirely from the books without a problem, but will remain for angst and cool factor, or something. But if you think about it, most of the characters’ actions would remain the same whether or not Sandor was around (somebody else kills Mycah, Loras wins the tournament, the entire Sansa-Sandor thing is abandoned, as is the Clegane brother’s hatred, Arya just escapes the merrymen and never goes to Riverrun -instead, hears the merrymen mention it or something-, and heads for the coast…)
soka-chanQuote Reply
Varys is nowhere near 100% essential. I'd say Bronn's role in Tyrion's escape makes HIM more important. Certainly Renly is vastly more important, he's one of the Kings that Clash!
shadallionQuote Reply
Per the cut/consolidated characters conversation…
I know it's a long way off, but I always thought on TV it would make more sense to consolidate Ygritte and Val. When Stannis makes his offer of Winterfell/marry the wilding princess to Jon, Val pops back out of nowhere. On TV, people would have a hard time remembering or caring about that character. I realize that saving Ygritte's life would be a huge plot change, but wouldn't that make his choice to stay at the wall all the more difficult?
skylarkQuote Reply
Removing Davos would also completely change the trajectory of the story. Without Davos’ influence, a number of key events on Dragonstone would almost certainly go differently. Melisandre almost certainly sacrifices Edric, and if that works, the war of the seven kings probably goes much differently. If it doesn’t, Melisandre is revealed as fraudulent or incompetent.
They could hypothetically try and merge Davos with Stannis, making him more conflicted about following Melisandre’s advice, but I think that would make for a much less believable situation. If he’s only hesitantly trusting her, he’d probably boot her out at the first mention of murdering children.
EricQuote Reply
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