Hollywood What If Chapter 563
Fan-Expo New Orleans, 2009.
The massive hall was packed with many fans. Fans dressed in fanciful medieval outfits, some females even had white wigs as they cosplayed a certain character from a TV show.
Banners of Game of Thrones hung on the walls, and a giant screen played highlights from Season 3.
The moment George R.R. Martin stepped onto the stage, the crowd erupted into cheers.
The author smiled widely as he waved his hand. Who would have thought that five years ago, he was just a simple author with no worldwide influence?
George R.R. Martin was actually a TV writer in the '80s and early '90s before pursuing his author career again in 1996. Basically, George experienced how hard it was to break through in Hollywood, so he decided to return to being a novelist.
Before he published the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series, George had written novels such as Dying of the Light, Windhaven (co-writer), Fevre Dream, and The Armageddon Rag.
Out of all the novels he had written, A Song of Ice and Fire was the most successful. Of course, the influence of Game of Thrones was one of the reasons why he achieved his status now.
The fans went crazy as the famous author stepped onto the podium. Today, he attended this Comic-Con to associate with his fans.
George adjusted his cap and grinned as he leaned into the microphone.
"Well, well," he said, scanning the enthusiastic crowd.
"I see a lot of Targaryens out here. Should I be worried?"
The audience laughed, some waving their banners.
The host smiled beside him.
"George, Season 3 of Game of Thrones has been a massive success. Did you ever expect your books to become this big?"
"I always dreamed of it, but Hollywood is unpredictable. Yet here we are." George chuckled and nodded.
Of course, every author dreams of their novels getting a movie adaptation. Even Lord of the Rings, which was 55 years old as of 2009, miraculously had an adaptation after so many decades. Even Harry Potter's massive success was an inspiration to many authors.
Naturally, George thought of his novels getting adapted. However, instead of getting a movie adaptation, his novels got a TV show adaptation, which was not a bad thing. In fact, he knew that a TV show was the better option since his books were quite dark and hard to get a PG-13 rating.
He smiled and reminisced about the past.
Back in 2004, George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series was already a success. After all, he had three volumes published, which meant readers loved the series. He was satisfied, but he couldn't deny that he envied authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien, J.K. Rowling, and Stephen King.
The sure way to become a successful author was by having your novels adapted into movies. Because once that happened, your books would receive a sales boost, especially if the movie was a box office hit.
Anyway, George was stunned when he received a call from someone from Grey Pictures.
Grey Pictures!
Despite being a second-tier studio without a distribution channel, Grey Pictures was recognized as one of the best studios in Hollywood. Furthermore, Grey Pictures produced movies such as The Bourne series and The Revenant, which were adapted from novels. Of course, George was happily surprised.
He made sure the call wasn't a scam before agreeing to meet the representative.
He had a hard time sleeping the night before the meeting.
When he met the person who called him, George was surprised that it was Harold Witsend, one of the best producers from Grey Pictures. This showed that they truly took an interest in his novels.
George was a bit disappointed when he realized that Grey Pictures wanted a TV show based on his current series, which was A Song of Ice and Fire instead of a movie.
At that time, they still hadn't made a decision about the title of the show.
George talked to his agent. His agent was actually against the idea of selling the adaptation rights since Grey Pictures was only interested in turning it into a TV show. However, based on how dark the series was, both George and his agent knew that it would be difficult for it to be successful at the box office.
After negotiations that gave him a good amount of profit shares, George R.R. Martin signed the contract.
The reason that convinced him was that Kazir Grey personally called him and promised that he would direct the first five episodes.
George decided to trust the talented director.
And now, his trust in Kazir had turned him into what he is now. A millionaire. He earned a lot after the success of Game of Thrones.
For that, he was thankful to Kazir.
After the introduction and a few comments, the question and answer portion started.
Fans who wanted to ask George some questions lined up.
"Um, first of all, I just want to say I'm a huge fan. Before Game of Thrones became successful, I'd already read A Song of Ice and Fire. I just want to ask, when will the next book get published?"
George smiled...
The last book, which was A Feast for Crows, was released in 2005, which was four years ago. It was understandable why fans of the novel were eagerly asking him the question. After all, four years of waiting was quite painful.
"Haha, I also don't know... I'm just joking. So far, I'm already writing the next book, but it needs further improvement. If I'm right, the next book will be published in 2011, which is two years from now."
"Can we know the title?"
"The title is A Dance with Dragons, unless I decide to change it."
When the fans heard the title of the next book, ideas started playing in their heads. Perhaps dragons would have a battle, or maybe the dragons would dance?
By the way, A Dance with Dragons was also currently the last book of the series because George didn't publish any volume after that. After A Dance with Dragons, George R.R. Martin wouldn't write a continuation for the next 15 years.
The next fan asked a question.
"Can I know why you write slowly?"
"Well, I have two answers. The first is procrastination, and the second is perfection. I want my novels to be perfect with no flaws, so I can't force myself to publish an imperfect novel."