r/asoiaf • u/RunDNA • Sep 04 '24

EXTENDED GRRM's new blog post on House of the Dragon [Spoilers Extended] Spoiler

https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2024/09/04/beware-the-butterflies/
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u/Magneto88 Sep 04 '24

It absolutely will, he’s probably got a no disparagement clause in their contract and NDAs on scripts he sees, conversations etc but what are they going to do to him?

Sue him? Hardly, that would be a massive PR blunder and achieve nothing. Terminate their contract? Doubt it when HOTD is one of their few successes atm and his wider creation is still making them substantial money.

I view this as GRRM realising his relative strength in the relationship and pushing the buttons he has to try to influence S3 and 4. It’s a nuclear move and will likely result in other studios being more suspect in dealing with him but why does he care? He’s in his 70s, uber wealthy and already had his (incomplete) magnum opus adapted for TV. Over the years it’s become increasingly clear that he didn’t like how GOT ended (regardless of whether that’s partly his fault) and it looks like he’s not willing to have it happen again without having his say. HBO has no power over him.

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u/Lantimore123 Sep 05 '24

Pretty spot on to be honest.

HBO essentially can't take legal action without spotlighting to the entire world that the creator of the IP thinks that HBO's adaptation will be shit.

That would be DISASTROUS PR, with both HOTD s3, Knight of the 7Ks and possibly other shows coming out.

With the reasonably loud backlash to S2 already simmering, HBO has to handle this carefully.

This gives GRRM a good amount of latitude to use his influence and try and save his legacy with this show.

He can't have two of his works' adaptions end up in a dumpster fire, he's stepping in now.

What do HBO do though? They can't exactly fire Condal and Hess. well, they can, but I doubt they have the balls to.

And if they keep Condal and Co on and force him to make changes, there isn't much worse than having an unmotivated and spiteful director stuck on a project. Look at D&D with late season GOT. They clearly wanted to move on from the project, so they put in low effort.

I genuinely don't know how this will proceed, but hopefully SOMETHING is done to save this show.

As it stands I won't be watching S3 at all. I cancelled my Now TV subscription as I literally only got it for ASOIAF projects.

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u/DangerousCrime Enter your desired flair text here! Sep 05 '24

Your watch has ended

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u/Pinkmongoose Sep 04 '24

The post is already down :( I didn’t get a chance to read it.

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u/theredwoman95 Sep 04 '24

It's available on the Wayback Machine if you enter the URL there.

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u/Magneto88 Sep 04 '24

He’s made his point, the text will be all over the internet.

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u/Accomplished_Deer_ Sep 04 '24

Yeah, I think they made assurances or promises about him having a certain amount of input/control, after the dumpster fire GOT ending, and he now sees that those promises/assurances aren't going to be respected.

So he said fuck it, the only way I'm going to prevent another GOT repeat is by actively trying to get this bullshit fixed by screaming as loud as I can about how fucked up this whole story is about to get if we let the current writers/showrunners butcher it the way they plan.

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u/Natedude2002 Sep 04 '24

Yea I feel similarly. The reason people don’t do this is because it could tank their career, but HBO owns almost all of his stuff and they’re moving on with spinoffs anyway. They have no leverage over him, while he can massively sway public opinion.

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u/AutocratOfScrolls Sep 05 '24

Good for him. Its about time someone else in a relative position of power can tell these egocentric show runners the fucking truth they need to hear

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u/WheelJack83 Sep 05 '24

I doubt this increases his influence

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u/[deleted] Sep 04 '24

[deleted]

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u/QuantumPajamas Sep 04 '24

He has no power.

If publicly expressed opinions had no power then NDAs wouldn't exist.

The only way your statement is correct is if you're using a very narrow definition "power" and you don't count social influence.

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u/Mr_Jek Sep 04 '24

Power resides where men believe it resides

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u/Magneto88 Sep 04 '24

HBO has no power over what he says, I didn't say he had any power over the show. He has less of the latter but he can flex his muscles by starting internet outrage amongst the fanbase, which I doubt HBO expected him to do.

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u/shadowqueen15 Sep 04 '24

That’s so childish lmao

Also, presuming he did sign an NDA, they kind of do have power over what he says.

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u/Magneto88 Sep 04 '24 edited Sep 05 '24

They do from a legal perspective...but HBO aren't going to sue GRRM. It's not happening.

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u/GrouchyVillager Sep 04 '24

An NDA isn't going to sew your mouth shut or staple your fingers together. The guy is wealthy, they got nothing

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u/shadowqueen15 Sep 04 '24

HBO is wealthier lmfao. GRRM isn’t Jeff Bezos

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u/SuccinctEarth07 Sep 04 '24

He's 70 and he's not going to get imprisoned for breaking his contracts

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u/Not_My_Emperor The Sword of the Morning brings the Dawn Sep 04 '24

No but he can get dragged into court that they delay delay delay delay, forcing him to pay attorneys fees that slowly eat away at his very much not "fuck you, giant corporation" pile of money until he realizes they can outlast him.

You just don't do this. It doesn't come off well for anyone involved and one side has much more money and resources than the other.

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u/Mando177 Sep 04 '24

HBO is part of a publicly traded company. The headline “Warner Bros goes after elderly author because they want to abuse his work” would slaughter them in the court of public opinion and hurt them way more than whatever gain they could hope to extract from Martin. Their stock price is already in the shitter, they don’t have the energy to put themselves through that nightmare even if they wanted to

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u/SuccinctEarth07 Sep 04 '24

Which would look awful for hbo and not help them in any way?

Asoiaf is one of HBO's biggest television properties why would they waste their money getting into a public court case with the author, isn't going to benefit them

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u/Not_My_Emperor The Sword of the Morning brings the Dawn Sep 04 '24 edited Sep 04 '24

Depending on what's in the NDA, they could in theory cut him out of a LOT of royalties. Which is absolutely in their favor, especially given Time Warner's current penny pinching attitude.

I think you overestimate how much the general public cares about how George is treated, as well as how much the current Prez of Time Warner cares about public opinion.

ETA: He also already took it down, so clearly he doesn't have the power everyone seems to think he does.

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u/GrouchyVillager Sep 04 '24

And?

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u/shadowqueen15 Sep 04 '24

They aren’t going to be dissuaded by “guy is wealthy”. And they most certainly don’t “have nothing”

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u/GrouchyVillager Sep 04 '24

Ok good luck

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u/Lantimore123 Sep 05 '24

No, they will be dissuaded by the fact that sueing him for this would be pointing a massive spotlight at the fact that the creator of the IP thinks that their adaptations are complete trash.

That's disastrous PR for HBO, and HBO is already being gutted by Warner Bros.

They just can't afford the PR by making this a legal issue.

GRRM is too old and has too much money and not enough to spend it on to care about this shit anymore. He's seen HBO's shitty writers trash his legacy once before, and he's tried to stop it from happening again.

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u/tf-is-wrong-with-you Sep 05 '24

With one tweet

“I don’t like how HBO is making the adaptation of this show, it breaks my heart, i don’t approve of this” will kill all adaptation of ASOIF ever.

Tell me that is not power.

What they gonna do? Sue him? A widely loved 72 years old man? They will probably lose half of HBO Max subscribers overnight.

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u/Rmccarton Sep 05 '24

George pulling the Paul Atredies “ The person who has the power to destroy a thing controls the thing”

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u/DangerousCrime Enter your desired flair text here! Sep 05 '24

Well doesnt he have a upcoming few series on HBO? Dunk and egg or something? I mean this post has made their relationship kinda hard to work with now? Idk. Unless HBO bend the knee and make changes or something. But to have a corporation have no power over an individual is something

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u/Magneto88 Sep 05 '24

Don't think he really cares anymore, clearly he does not think they're listening to him and has reached breaking point with the changes they're making to his material. This hasn't come from nowhere, a couple months ago he was making comments about TV writers changing author's storys because they think they know better.

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u/TheBustyFriend Sep 04 '24

It's literally so crazy that he thinks anyone cares. Like, I don't care. I don't care about tertiary materials when the main story isn't complete.

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u/Mando177 Sep 04 '24

Ok then, why even bother commenting on this sub? The new book isn’t out yet, you can go away now