George R. R. Martin will be hosting a live event, “Creating Brave New Worlds”, at the Edinburgh International Book Festival later today.
The event will be livestreamed by BBC Arts Online at 3pm EDT (8pm BST). You can discuss the event while it’s ongoing by supporting the bottom in the comments below.
[UPDATE: The stream has now concluded.]
George has also been interviewed by The Independent, who spoke to him during the Neuchâtel International Film Festival, at which he is guest of honor.
- Likening his propensity for brutally killing off characters to Hitchcock’s Psycho, he said, “I thought Psycho was an interesting choice because people are constantly saying I kill people in my work unexpectedly… Hitchcock and [writer] Robert Bloch did that in Psycho. I wanted to establish that connection in particular. I am hardly the first person to kill a character unexpectedly and thereby get a big reaction from the audience.”
- George also acknowledged the passion of his fanbase: “I have the best fans in the world for the most part. There is a minority who are annoying, it has to be said. But for every one of those, there are 500 who are just great and who are very supportive. They buy the books and come out in their thousands when I do a signing… With most writers, no one gives a shit when their book is coming out and even when it does come out, no one cares. I would much rather have my problem than their problem.”
- He again expressed his enthusiasm for a Game of Thrones movie to cap off the saga: “If we go seven or eight seasons and then the show is still big enough that we can get the $200m to finance a huge epic movie to end it… sure!”
George also spoke of his meager life growing up in New Jersey, his distaste for the changing nature of the publishing business, his writing process and much more.
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Nicely said. He has a “problem of abundance”. Better to have that than a “problem of scarcity”.
Cumsprite is coming
This site is 1000x better than winteriscoming.net now. That is all.
GRRM = some festival = some conference = NFL NY Jets = loobying for 8 seasons + a 200 million $ movie = out of touch with reality = no WOW news
The BBC livestream is at 8 pm BST which is 7 pm GMT. Daylight saving and all that…
jentario,
Lemme go find my bullshit waders.
LRK,
So twenty minutes ago?
LRK,
Oops, that’s my fault and I should be ashamed, since it’s my own timezone…
It’s changed now. Regardless, when the clock reads 8, GRRM will speak.
jentario,
No, twenty-six minutes still to go.
The main post has now been updated, I see.
“This content doesn’t seem to be working.
Please try again later.”
Classic GURM.
Still comes off as an obstinante child.
Cumsprite,
It’s working now!
Hoyti_Von_Totiy,
Get over it. He can do what he likes.
Thank you! I’ve been waiting for someone to state the obvious.
He can do what he wants, sure, but we don’t have to like it. He strikes me as a very old-school kind of writer, especially with his remarks on the publishing business. I think it’s very possible to enjoy someone’s work without liking them as a professional.
Looks like I am out of luck. Before I burst, would someone please tell me — has he mentioned he’s from Bayonne, New Jersey yet? That’s always my favorite part.
Seriously , again with the movie stuff ? I thought HBO basically saying,no that’s not going to happen in a million years would have got through his head but apparently not .
Using Chrome with the Hola extension usually works like a charm to unlock BBC stuff. I’ve heard.
Cumsprite,
Of course! Also: comic books, looking out over the bay, Tolkien, the usual stuff.
One juicy tidbit relating to TWOW and ADOS:
I don’t know the details of the contract he signed with HBO, but it seems to me, if D&D can’t get to the end in 7 seasons, HBO would either have to rethink how many seasons they’re willing to do, or finish it with a film. Yes, I realize there are problem inherent in both those ideas, but it seems to me either option would be less of a problem than leaving the story unfinished.
Cian,
That’s been known for a while, hasn’t it?
BrightroarsBane,
Yep, I believe it’s been known since last year, but the reminder is welcome!
Sue the Fury,
That was slick. I didn’t get to try it out until the very last question, but that’s going to be useful in the future. Thanks.
Cian,
I love that “tidbit”…
Nymeria Warrior Queen,
From everything I’ve read, it seems that D&D plan on getting to the end in 7 seasons. Whether it is the “end” that George wants is an entirely different matter. Has anyone other than George talked about a movie to close it all out?
If they can’t get to the end in seven seasons??? Lmfao – this ain’t rocket science. They know how it ends, and the major plot points. From there to finishing in ANY fixed amount of time is simple scripting, which they have a lot of collective experience with, and by dumping grrms scripting this season, they were likely able to condense another two episodes out, the ones they would have needed to clean up the scripting mess he would leave them with…
Nymeria Warrior Queen,
Yeah so if they can’t finish on television let’s finish on a two hour movie because it makes so much sense, oh wait except it doesn’t . They can extend a seventh season if they want without resorting to this movie crap which usually when HBO says it’s not going to happen then it’s not going to happen, Georgie boy doesn’t have that much power as you think .
Maybe you missed the part where I acknowledged there would be problems inherent in going that route? I certainly didn’t say, nor did I feel like I implied, it would make “so much sense.”
LOL, when I go to WiC and use any sort of combination using the words Watchers on the Wall, my comment goes into moderation. That’s just pathetic. Hopeless. So glad I can be HERE instead. For this night, and all nights to come.
Dutch maester,
That’ll be an interesting challenge for them if they ever start a conversation about season 4 episodes.
Dutch maester,
It’s not the first site they marked under spam. There was one which was actually named after something from the show which means you can’t talk about that anymore. Fansided doesn’t like competition.
Yeah, they shouldn’t be afraid of competition. Most fans will never know about the issues, nor about this site. So why be afraid?
I was actually approached about writing for WiC but declined. I don’t think my temperament fits within the corporate fansite environment.
Other ways Geek Furious is awesome as follows
News in from Facebook
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Send a raven to site management, via http://winteriscoming.net/contact/
Bold added by me.
I thought Martin had stopped being so delusional, this movie idea is totally out of reality.
I wish people would stop asking him these stupid questions about the movies. It is never going to happen. He has no say at all in the matter. HBO is never going to do it. A movie with as much backstory as Game of Thrones has, where it is difficult to tell enough in a 10 episode per season TV show is going to be strained to the max to tell such things in a movie. And GRRM, plus the radical purists like those on westeros.org will whine and moan more than ever about the things they are forced to cut to fit it in a movie time frame.
Jeb,
I hope people ask if they’re willing to share that corporate money with their staff.
The movie idea isn’t a bad one at all. It can make a lot of sense financially, actually, even with a large effects budget. Whether or not HBO is inclined to execute it or (more likely) find a partner is a different question. But it actually could make a lot of financial sense for them, especially if they retain exclusive rebroadcast rights.
It has a limited domestic haul, it’s true, b/c who wants to see it without watching the series, but it’s a great way to monetize internationally, put another DVD out there, advertise the series again and go into a new revenue stream.
It’s also a lot of work. I don’t think it would be as profitable as a full season of ASOIF with the cast at current rates, but that’s not what we’re comparing to, is it? It’d be more work than 2 hours of TV but less than 10, and it’d be profitable, I think.
Martin wants it because he’s going to write a finale that HBO can’t possibly afford on a 10 hr/$100M budget. But I don’t think it is ridiculous for him to keep throwing the idea out there. I think it would make HBO money.
EDIT: My thought process is for a movie that makes little to no attempt to contextualize for people who haven’t seen the series.
10M people at $15 is $150M gross domestic, and that’s if only half the people who watch GoT see it and no one sees it more than once. Movies are doign about 4x US Domestic in total WW ticket sales, and GoT is very strong internationally, so I’m not sure it’s unreasonable to peg GoT floor at about $600M gross worldwide and its top end at Transformers ($250 domestic/$1B worldwide). That’s before DVD sales, etc.
I could be wrong, but while I think the ceiling is capped, there’s still a sweet spot here. Especially because I’d think you could keep marketing down; you don’t have to heavily pay a top director, etc.
Alan,
You clearly demonstrated you have no idea what you’re talking about . I wonder between Martin and you who is more delusional ? Seriously 600 million dollars gross for a fucking GOT movie, ignoring the fact that the movie will have to be rated r and the fact that you base the popularity of the show just based on it’s US ratings, and who is to guarantee that all people who pay for HBO will pay for the movie, i know for a fact i won’t pay a single cent because it would be a ripoff, the only way i would support a movie idea was if the series was cancelled prematurely but as that won’t happen why would i want to support something that would ruin and tarnish the reputation of the show ?
Will the talk he gave be available for view, for those of us who didn’t see it live?
And when the movie thing happens, none of you will come here to eat your words, because it’s super brave to attack GRRM and anyone who suggests it COULD happen… when you don’t ever have to face any consequences for doing it.
And I know you won’t, because I’ve seen this happen over and over throughout the years. A group of know-nothings latches onto something they swear CAN NEVER HAPPEN, and then repeat it enough times so that they believe it can’t possibly ever happen because they’ve repeated it enough times, and then when it happens, they just ignore their massive ignorance and act as if they never said anything contradictory.
Because extreme people are uber-twits.
TaviColen123,
Please refrain from personal attacks. Not going to warn you again, Tavi, had enough of this.
Looking forward to GeekFurious’ warning for calling people “know-nothings” and “uber-twits”.
I’m looking forward even more to when the delusions all come crashing down. When realization finally settles in that no – the show is not going to slow down so that the author-who-rarely-writes can catch up, and after the show finishes (whether in the repeatedly affirmed 7 seasons, or in the alternate-universe-where-faeries-still-roam-the-woodlands-8th season) and the story is concluded without a movie…
now that’s entertainment… 😀
After reading feast and dance again for the third time I can honestly say that they can catch up to every storyline by episode 7 or 8 next year. The idea of a series of movies to finish the final plot points of aDoS isn’t a bad idea if the show remains strong and the ratings keep up. I’d gladly pay to see them and buy the blu-rays. I’d rather see them finish all of the asoiaf plot points in the hbo series though. I’m also sad about what fansided did to WiC. I loved going there several times a day to get my GoT fix, but at least we can all come here with the real fans.
Direliz,
In case you’re still in search
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0249fwp/edinburgh-festivals-2014-george-rr-martin