Nearly five years after signing their big multi-million dollar Netflix deal, “Game Of Thrones” creators David Benioff & D.B. Weiss are finally set to begin at the streamer in earnest with their first big project, the sci-fi mystery series, “3 Body Problem” (to be fair, they executive produced Netflix’s “The Chair” too, but that was more of Amanda Peet and Annie Julia Wyman’s project; Peete is married to Benioff).
Benioff & Weiss obviously made their names at HBO, where they created and showran that series for eight seasons, and maybe it’s all fashioned in the name of drama. Still, in a new Wall Street Journal profile about the pair and the project, the first quotes and stories are about taking jabs and throwing shade at its former owners, AT&T, and some of their questionable ideas.
The WSJ says Benioff and Weiss “weren’t crazy” about HBO’s then-owners, AT&T. Execs at the company apparently once asked whether “Game Of Thrones” could be shot vertically so it could fit on the phone. The company also “openly discussed the idea of snackable mini-episodes of the series.”
Whether HBO pushed back on that or not is unclear, possibly since none of it ever happened, but the creators didn’t seem happy about it, and the suggestion is they left HBO for Netflix because they’d have more creative free reign.
“Dysfunction kills more projects than anything else, whether it’s interpersonal dysfunction or institutional dysfunction,” Weiss is quoted about the situation.
“When you sign a five-year deal with a company, you want that company to be stable so you can be left alone to do your work and not have to worry about it being bought by the phone company,” Benioff said. “Finding the smoothest ride in the ocean was key.”
The article also reminds us that HBO shot down their idea of doing three theatrical movies to conclude “Game Of Thrones” instead of the final 13 episodes that comprised the last two seasons.
They were reminded, as Benioff puts it, that they were making the show for “Home Box Office.” Not, Weiss adds, “Away Box Office.”
Parting shade now that they’re at a new company? Meanwhile, they’ll have to prove if they got the goods when “3 Body Problem” debuts on Netflix on March 21.