What am I looking at, here?

Hmm. First I’ve heard of it, other than the Martin stuff. And a lot of it makes sense. But by the same token, by season 5 when they went off book, they should have known what they were in for. And ultimately, they controlled the output so they have to wear a bunch of it.

that's old ben kenobi

Well, this isn't something that would be released or talked about by the showrunners in Variety or the Reporter or any other entertainment related website but it's fairly common knowledge in town.

It's also hurt HBO's rep. Unlike Netflix or Disney+, no established directors and/or showrunners are lining up to work with HBO/AT&T at this point in time.

No one wants "Management" looking over their shoulder every freaking minute of the day and they've pissed off so many people, including Christopher Nolan, that I have to wonder if they'll ever become a true streaming competitor to the likes of Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, etc.

Those streamers are investing in great talent while AT&T/HBO are driving them away.

This is from a new interview with Temuera Morrison about the upcoming Book of Boba Fett

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https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com...avorite-films/

Rotten Tomatoes: Speaking of action, I do have to ask about Boba Fett.

Morrison: My lips are sealed. I can’t say too much about that!

Rotten Tomatoes: Well, I will avoid The Book of Boba Fett. But for The Mandalorian, which everyone has seen, what was it like to return to that character and do that hand-to-hand combat and do things that we hadn’t really seen in a Star Wars movie before?

Morrison: I think that was a blessing for me in a way, in terms of Boba Fett’s history. No one’s actually seen him do anything besides stand there. And of course, his claim to fame was catching the man, I guess. But other than that, he was a pretty elusive bloke. So this was an opportunity again, to work with Robert Rodriguez, who gave it a little bit of an edge. And I think Robert’s ability was to sort of make a good point of making this guy explode. After it, Jon Favreau come up to me and just said, “Congratulations, the fans loved it.”

Rotten Tomatoes: Will we see more of that Boba Fett, the hand-to-hand fighting Boba Fett, in the new series?

Morrison: Well, we can’t say too much, but we’re going to see his past and where he’s been since The Empire Strikes Back. Somebody pointed out he’s been kind of stuck in this one place, and now’s the time to actually go back in time and check out his journey and find out more about him. But yeah, that was the advantage for me, was that we hadn’t seen him do much. And along with Robert Rodriguez as director, we were able to sort of introduce him in a dynamic way, bring him back in a dynamic way alongside the Mandalorian. It was just an honor to be asked back.

Hey, it could have gone anywhere. It’s a new time, and I think they’re looking for fresh faces. And of course, again, it was either Dave Filoni or Jon Favreau probably meeting, and then had a few discussions. I was just kind of quietly thrilled when I did do the meeting. I saw a couple of concept photos on the wall and there was a guy that looked very, very similar to me. And I kept saying, “Is that me? Yeah, it must be me. Yeah, it is me!”. And then of course, after having a good meeting with these guys and they outlined a few things, it was just wonderful. Again, it was nice to work with these people, and it was just a great opportunity. They brought Robert back in to direct a few more. There’s some wonderful directors involved. It’s hard work now, what we do now, a whole new system, with COVID in place, health and safety regulations.

I just hope I meet the expectations, because you can somehow kind of feel those things. You asked me that question earlier about Occupation – could you feel or sense anything, but definitely on The Book of Boba, you can get more of a sense and a feeling for if it’s working or not. So I think with being involved with that last series of The Mandalorian and having a reentry, it has created a little bit more expectation.

But yeah, I feel good. We’ve done some good work.

Oh I don’t doubt it at all. And it’s a shame. More good production that hits the ground is better for me.

I think unltimately it hurt D&Ds rep too though, right? Are those guys even working these days?

While the fans may be disappointed, it didn't hurt their rep in town. 10+ years is a long, long time to work on one project and one project only and those guys definitely needed some downtime before moving on to their next project.

They did sign a $250 million dollar deal with Netflix and they're working to adapt a screenplay at this point. With that said, $250 million is chump change these days, especially considering the budget for GoT was $150 million per season.

Right on. Hopefully they can return to form. GOT through Season 6ish was damned good television.

after they got past the well established and published story and character arcs is when it went off the rails. They obviously took their eyes off the ball of the most successful TV show in a long time. How does that not hurt their reputation in Hollywood?

I re-watched Solo last week. That was a good movie. Definitely a victim of the backlash. As a stand alone it was a very good effort.

It's a great film, really. Gets a little better with every viewing.

No, they did not. They were not working on other projects nor did they sign any other deals during their commitment to GoT. 10 years is a long, long time to dedicate to one TV series. And it wasn’t a Live Studio audience rom-com or single camera comedy. It was a massive production and before the recent Disney+ series, the biggest in TV history.

HBO demanded that they finish the series according to their schedule because the cupboards were empty. B&W didn’t get to take a few years, nor did they have any kind of blueprint from Martin because Martin himself didn’t know what the hell would happen next.

If management doesn’t give creatives time to create, the end result is most likely going to be disappointing. The blame lies solely with HBO/AT&T and everyone in town knows it, which is why they signed a deal with Netflix for up to $300 million.

Just one more note on GoT: I watched the first and maybe part of the second season but had to stop due to time constraints, a newborn, wife's cancer and so much more, so I say this as someone who has no skin in the game.

I don't know how many people watch the credits after each and every TV episode or film but I think that most people are aware that it takes hundreds, if not thousands, of people to create an episode or feature film. Each of those people have a specific role that they do well and sometimes, those people rise to the level of supervisor or manager but for the most part, people are content in their roles. People don't start out as a Gaffer or Set Designer, then "move their way up" to Producer or Director. That's not how the industry works. There are clear pathways that must be taken in order to achieve those titles and goals.

The reason why I'm stating this is because when Benioff and Weiss signed on run GoT and adapt the books, they were hired based on their ability to do just that: Adapt a book into a screenplay and series. I understand that many of the fans felt a huge letdown after the show progressed past the books, which left B&W to continue the story on their own, and without an outline or roadmap of what was to come.

That isn't their strength and was never their strength. Their latest projects for Netflix are once again, to adapt, one of which is from a Pulitzer Prize winning novel and the other, a trio of Sci-Fi novels into a feature film(s). I suspect they'll be successful at doing so, as they were with GoT. But it was foolish to expect that B&W could continue the stories that they could not originate.

People have their gifts. But those gift generally do not extend beyond their capabilities, but HBO did not care. And unfortunately, B&W took the brunt of the heat and not HBO.

The main problem I had with game of thrones began well before they ran out of book material: they chose to emphasize the politics and downplay the already subtle magical elements of the show. That decision moved the course of the entire series away from the books almost immediately after the events of the red wedding, and I don't think it's a coincidence that the show's decline in storytelling quality began roughly at that same point. After that, they appeared to have no real idea where to go with any of the characters, not because they ran out of books, but because they stopped following the story Martin had laid out. The further from the template that they moved, the more obvious it was that they either didn't understand their own characters, or they weren't capable of telling stories with them without Martin's direct influence.

Oh I'm fully in agreement that the complete dumpster-fire that season 8 was couldn't have been the fault of just two people, but people need someone to blame and D&D are the easiest target. They were after all, the people who took most of the credit for the huge success of seasons 1-3.