HBO CEO Richard Plepler Talks How Benioff Sold HBO on Game of Thrones

How does a global phenomenon start? Ten years ago, a TV show based on the novels of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series was a wild pipe dream. Although fantasy fiction had picked up steam in popular culture with The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series, these were large budget movies, not television mini-series. The new golden age of television had begun on HBO, but it was dominated by shows like The Sopranos, set in modern day New Jersey, not princesses and sword-wielding heroes. So what was it about this pilot that convinced the CEO of HBO that the next step in big budget television serials was dragons?

This question was put to Richard Plepler, said CEO, yesterday at the New York Times’ New Work Summit. Billed as a conference to inspire business leaders to create the company of the future, it featured talks with a disparate group of innovators from leading edge neurosurgeons discussing 21 century medical breakthroughs to J.J. Abrams, whose Bad Robot company has been responsible from everything from TV cult hit Fringe to the Star Trek revival of 2009. Abrams himself has revived Star Wars with Disney to the tune of $2 billion and counting. Plepler discussed HBO’s foray into streaming services and how he’s worked to take the channel from a pay channel with nothing but movies to being synonymous with the leading edge of innovative television series.

So why did he decide to take a chance on Game of Thrones? He admits that, initially, he was very nervous about it, as dragons and zombies seemed, in his words, “off brand.” It turns out it was a one-on-one with David Benioff that convinced him this story was worth it.

Benioff, for the record, wasn’t wrong about how this show was going to appeal to those who are not usually into swords, sorcery, fights between good and evil, or swayed by the cuteness of baby dragons roasting their lunch. Game of Thrones’ political parable of leaders myopically fighting for power as uncontrollable disaster looms resonates not only in the US and the UK, but to people around the world.

Plepler also discussed their “line in the sand” when it came to allowing shows to stream “outside of the HBO ecosystem.”

As Plepler later said, for HBO: “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” For those who don’t know, that’s actually a quote from politician Haley Barbour. Turns out Plepler really is a political junkie…