# George R. R. Martin Signs 5 Year Deal with HBO for Tens of Million Dollars **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** hbomax-wb-dc\ **Created:** [March 27, 2021, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-r-r-martin-signs-5-year-deal-with-hbo-for-tens-of-million-dollars/938822 "2021-03-27T06:00:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-r-r-martin-signs-5-year-deal-with-hbo-for-tens-of-million-dollars/938822/1 "2021-03-27T06:00:27Z")
> George R.R. Martin is founding a new content kingdom at HBO. > > The _Game of Thrones_ author just signed a massive overall deal to develop more programming for the network and its streaming service, HBO Max. Sources say Martin’s contract spans five years and is worth mid-eight figures. > > The news comes on the heels of a surge of _Game of Thrones_ prequels being put into development. All told, the network has five projects based on Martin’s _A Song of Ice and Fire_ fantasy world in the development stage and one ( _House of the Dragon_ ) that’s been greenlit to series. > > The four-time Emmy winner is also developing for HBO the series _Who Fears Death_ (an adaptation of Nnedi Okorafor’s award-winning 2011 postapocalyptic novel) and _Roadmarks_ (an adaptation of Roger Zelazny’s 1979 fantasy novel), both of which he will executive produce. > **[George R.R. Martin Signs Massive Five-Year Overall Deal With HBO (Exclusive)](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/george-r-r-martin-signs-massive-five-year-overall-deal-with-hbo-exclusive-4155921/)** > > The ‘Game of Thrones’ author strikes a long-term deal with HBO worth mid-eight figures. Mid 8 figures? What exactly does that mean? I am thinking $33 to $67 Million Dollars. I am very surprised a SF author could make this kind of money–although I suppose most of it is for the producing, not the writing. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-r-r-martin-signs-5-year-deal-with-hbo-for-tens-of-million-dollars/938822/2 "2021-03-27T06:08:00Z")
Hmmm…Roadmarks could be a lot of fun properly done. That’s actually a book that is a natural for a modern TV mini-series with a decent budget. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-r-r-martin-signs-5-year-deal-with-hbo-for-tens-of-million-dollars/938822/3 "2021-03-27T10:50:18Z")
GRRM probably makes more money than every other living SF-Fantasy author, aside from Stephen King, put together. So yes, this is a very unusual amount of money. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-r-r-martin-signs-5-year-deal-with-hbo-for-tens-of-million-dollars/938822/4 "2021-03-27T11:27:29Z")
HBO seems to have irrational choices here. You have to wonder how it can plan a Dunk and Egg series, based on the fact that the hasn’t written the other 9 of them, with them being a size of being able to be knocked out in a week, a month max. And five years? I’d not expect a whole lot of sensible and good stuff out of him in five years if he survives that long. He was arguably burnt out fifteen years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-r-r-martin-signs-5-year-deal-with-hbo-for-tens-of-million-dollars/938822/5 "2021-03-27T11:59:27Z")
I just really, REALLY, REALLY hope that Martin is given - or is willing to give himself - as much control over the writing as possible. I was appalled to see Game of Thrones - which, initially, I adored - suffer a steep decline in quality the more it deviated from Martin’s writing, to the point of sliding down into B-list or even C-list level plots seemingly propped up only by the A-list actors - actors whose credentials were built on the EARLIER seasons which were more solidly connected to Martin’s literary material. By the end of the show, I was truly disgusted with how far it had fallen - going from a totally gripping, immersive drama in the first few seasons, with peerless world-building and a pervasive sense of “anything could happen at any time and no barrier is safe from being broken” to a complete mess of a show that first struggled through tying together 30 meandering sub-stories simultaneously while ignoring the more compelling characters, as the writers desperately tried to figure out where to take the main story, and then ultimately into a really mindless “ok, time to wrap this all up with a bang!” final season. It was VERY clear when the original Martin stories started to be subsumed by the flailings of the HBO show writers, and very disappointing as well. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-r-r-martin-signs-5-year-deal-with-hbo-for-tens-of-million-dollars/938822/6 "2021-03-27T12:11:04Z")
I guess this means he’ll never finish the Song of Ice and Fire books. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-r-r-martin-signs-5-year-deal-with-hbo-for-tens-of-million-dollars/938822/7 "2021-03-27T12:17:24Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I guess this means he’ll never finish the Song of Ice and Fire books. I think you’re around 18 years behind on that assertion. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-r-r-martin-signs-5-year-deal-with-hbo-for-tens-of-million-dollars/938822/8 "2021-03-27T12:19:58Z")
😆 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-r-r-martin-signs-5-year-deal-with-hbo-for-tens-of-million-dollars/938822/9 "2021-03-27T12:21:52Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > GRRM probably makes more money than every other living SF-Fantasy author, aside from Stephen King, put together. So yes, this is a very unusual amount of money. J. K. Rowling, too. I’m OK with living in a world where writing fantasy is a possible (even if not likely) route to riches-beyond-dreams. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-r-r-martin-signs-5-year-deal-with-hbo-for-tens-of-million-dollars/938822/10 "2021-03-27T12:22:18Z")
Yep, forgot about her!