Morgan Regnier @morganregnier_ - Twitter Profile

over 3 years ago

Game of Thrones is the #1 most watched TV show ever. It holds the record for most Emmy Awards (59) & most Emmy nominations (161). In just about every publication, GoT is ranked as one of the best shows of all time. Ironically, it was originally written to be “unfilmable.” In the late 1970s, George R.R. Martin quit his teaching job to try to become a full-time writer. Martin had some success selling science fiction short stories and novellas, but then in 1983, his novel “The Armageddon Rag” was such a commercial failure that it “essentially destroyed my career as a novelist.” Desperate for work, Martin went out to Hollywood and secured a job as a staff writer in television. The money was good but the work was frustrating. Later talking about what spurred him to write “A Game of Thrones”—the first book in his “Song of Ice and Fire” series—Martin said, “I worked in Hollywood for about 10 years, from the late ’80s to the ’90s. I’d been on the staff of The Twilight Zone and Beauty and the Beast. All of my first drafts tended to be too big or too expensive. I always hated the process of having to cut.” So Martin left Hollywood—“I said, ‘I’m sick of this, I’m going to write something that’s as big as I want it to be.” He decided, “I’m going to write something just as big as my imagination, I’m going to have all the characters I want, and gigantic castles, and dragons, and direwolves, and hundreds of years of history, and a really complex plot, and it’s fine because it’s a book. It’s essentially unfilmable.” “The irony is, of course,” Martin said, “that’s what became filmed.” Takeaway 1: Martin began writing Game of Thrones because he was “sick of” TV producers telling him his scripts were “too big or too expensive.” “It’s very important to know what you don’t like,” Jerry Seinfeld says. “A big part of innovation is saying, ‘You know what I’m really sick of?’ … ‘What am I really sick of?’ is where innovation begins. Takeaway 2: Martin wrote the world and the characters he wanted to exist. Rick Rubin famously began making hip-hop albums because the hip-hop albums at the time didn't sound like the music in the hip-hop clubs he loved going to. Still to this day, Rubin says: "I just try to make my favorite music…I make what I want to exist." - - - “When the book started hitting the bestseller list…I immediately started getting interest from Hollywood. I had a number of meetings with people who said, ‘this is the next Lord of the Rings franchise.’ But they couldn’t get a handle on the size of the material, the very thing that I set out to do. I had all these meetings saying, ‘There’s too many characters, it’s too big — Jon Snow is the central character. We’ll eliminate all the other characters and we’ll make it about Jon Snow.’ Or ‘Daenerys is the central character. We’ll eliminate everyone else and make the movie about Daenerys.’ And I turned down all those deals.” — George R.R. Martin Follow @bpoppenheimer for more content like this!

bpoppenheimer's tweet photo. Game of Thrones is the #1 most watched TV show ever.

It holds the record for most Emmy Awards (59) & most Emmy nominations (161).

In just about every publication, GoT is ranked as one of the best shows of all time.

Ironically, it was originally written to be “unfilmable.”

In the late 1970s, George R.R. Martin quit his teaching job to try to become a full-time writer.

Martin had some success selling science fiction short stories and novellas, but then in 1983, his novel “The Armageddon Rag” was such a commercial failure that it “essentially destroyed my career as a novelist.”

Desperate for work, Martin went out to Hollywood and secured a job as a staff writer in television.

The money was good but the work was frustrating.

Later talking about what spurred him to write “A Game of Thrones”—the first book in his “Song of Ice and Fire” series—Martin said,

“I worked in Hollywood for about 10 years, from the late ’80s to the ’90s. I’d been on the staff of The Twilight Zone and Beauty and the Beast. All of my first drafts tended to be too big or too expensive. I always hated the process of having to cut.”

So Martin left Hollywood—“I said, ‘I’m sick of this, I’m going to write something that’s as big as I want it to be.” He decided,

“I’m going to write something just as big as my imagination, I’m going to have all the characters I want, and gigantic castles, and dragons, and direwolves, and hundreds of years of history, and a really complex plot, and it’s fine because it’s a book. It’s essentially unfilmable.”

“The irony is, of course,” Martin said, “that’s what became filmed.”

Takeaway 1:

Martin began writing Game of Thrones because he was “sick of” TV producers telling him his scripts were “too big or too expensive.”

“It’s very important to know what you don’t like,” Jerry Seinfeld says. “A big part of innovation is saying, ‘You know what I’m really sick of?’ … ‘What am I really sick of?’ is where innovation begins.

Takeaway 2:

Martin wrote the world and the characters he wanted to exist.

Rick Rubin famously began making hip-hop albums because the hip-hop albums at the time didn't sound like the music in the hip-hop clubs he loved going to.

Still to this day, Rubin says: "I just try to make my favorite music…I make what I want to exist."

- - -

“When the book started hitting the bestseller list…I immediately started getting interest from Hollywood. I had a number of meetings with people who said, ‘this is the next Lord of the Rings franchise.’ But they couldn’t get a handle on the size of the material, the very thing that I set out to do. I had all these meetings saying, ‘There’s too many characters, it’s too big — Jon Snow is the central character. We’ll eliminate all the other characters and we’ll make it about Jon Snow.’ Or ‘Daenerys is the central character. We’ll eliminate everyone else and make the movie about Daenerys.’ And I turned down all those deals.” — George R.R. Martin

Follow @bpoppenheimer for more content like this!

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morganregnier_ retweeted

Nolo @NoloFCB

almost 4 years ago

Messi was really doing all of this while scoring 91 goals in a year. 😭😭😭

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Dream of ASOIAF

@DreamofASOIAF

almost 4 years ago

In honor of Emilia’s birthday let’s bring back her most iconic scene ever https://t.co/S3I5FyIoEr

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morganregnier_ retweeted

eat soup @jasminericegirl

over 4 years ago

this is insane

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Who to follow

#BoomerSooner #BathroomTilly

morganregnier_ retweeted

Brooke @_brookelarson

about 9 years ago

I wish it was midnight and all my friends were in my car and we were driving around and singing old t swift with our 79 cent icees

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morganregnier_ retweeted

Noah Cyrus @noahcyrus

almost 5 years ago

jolene, i’m begging of you please don’t take my man 💜 congratulations on your fucking INCREDIBLE NYE show @mileycyrus AND thank you for having me!!! i’m SO proud of you and i love you so so much 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

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morganregnier_ retweeted

Augustana Soccer @AugieSoccer

over 5 years ago

Shannon McKnight is the next senior spotlight! #KnowYourWhy | #BuildingChampions

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morganregnier_ retweeted

Let A Naysayer Know @somtochukwu___

almost 6 years ago

we marched because we were getting killed, y’all are rioting because you didn’t get your way...we are not the same.

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Kara Goucher @karagoucher

about 6 years ago

As my grandfather lies in a bed struggling to take his last breaths due to Covid, I’m not sure I’ve ever read anything more offensive or tone deaf in my life.

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