• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Amazon CEO demands a 'Game of Thrones' style hit

40k is the easy pick here. Imagine if at the end of GoT a space god lands and approached Snow telling him he is one of his lost sons and he has 19 more to find scattered across the universe. You gotta tell each ones story before the real one begins.

I see you and other 40k fans post and it makes me want to get into it but I don't know where to start.
 

Einchy

semen stains the mountaintops
There's nothing else like Sense8, and I'm pretty sure we all know the reason why that show wasn't a hit (hint: it had nothing to do with quality).
.

What's the reason? Never seen the show but I've heard mostly negative things about it and very few positive things.
 
My pitch would be to base it on historical events and add your own flair, like BBC's The Last Kingdom. The setting would be 1400's Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Wallachia. There are so many ripe for TV characters. Sultan Mehmet II, Vlad Tepes, Radu the Handsome, etc. Focus on House Brasard/House Draculesti and how Vlad came to power, How Sultan came to power, etc.

If they're feeling adventurous, through in the Vampire elements. But base it in reality with real characters.
 
I don't get the sarcasm in this thread. Sure, hits aren't guaranteed things, but I think Game of Thrones has proven monetary investment is a significant part of it.


It also proven you need solid source material and established IP since it blown much bigger than any previous HBO show.

And here's the main problem - all the big ones are taken.
 

Stat Flow

He gonna cry in the car
Do Berserk. The tragic reality that it hasn't had a high quality anime adaptation means that people would go nuts over a live action berserk adaptation that's done right. Give it a GoT budget and promote it right, pick the right directors and actors and it would reach GoT status.
 
The right blend of soap opera and action with stakes is what makes it. Nothing too pretentious, just enough to hint at the depths. And write an ending or at least spell it out how much longer the series is going to go on. That way people become more engaged further down the seasons when the stakes get higher.
The soap opera bit is the difficult thing to get right. I think we're going to get a lot of fantasy adaptations in the next few years, but it needs more than heroics and good versus evil to get the sort of huge appeal GoT has.
 
After reading the thread, making an honest to god faithful adaptation of book Dark Tower series is still the most likely to succeed.

Get someone who looks like Eastwood to play Roland.
 

Eidan

Member
Who has The First Law rights? That is ripe for a Game of Thrones adaptation.
Seriously, I'm actually surprised that hasn't been picked up yet. Outside of the slow pace of the first book, the trilogy and its standalone books are perfect for TV.
 

Einchy

semen stains the mountaintops
After reading the thread, making an honest to god faithful adaptation of book Dark Tower series is still the most likely to succeed.

Last I heard that TV adaptation that would continue the movie was still planned but that might have them saving face since the movie tanked.
 
There's nothing else like Sense8, and I'm pretty sure we all know the reason why that show wasn't a hit (hint: it had nothing to do with quality).

I'm just saying "hits" have less to do with luck and more to do with money and getting the right people on board.
Rome, Camelot, hell Netflix pours a ton of money into projects like The Get Down, Marco Polo and The Crown. Getting the right people on board is vastly more important than just throwing money into a "hit" project and there's still a ton of luck involved. If it were just a money issue to catch lightning in a bottle every network and streaming site would have its own GoT.
 

Servbot24

Banned
Do Berserk. The tragic reality that it hasn't had a high quality anime adaptation means that people would go nuts over a live action berserk adaptation that's done right. Give it a GoT budget and promote it right, pick the right directors and actors and it would reach GoT status.
While I'd love to see it I'm not sure if the level of CGI is affordable. For the first season you can just spend all the budget on the finale, but after that...
 
Do a show in ancient Egypt. With high production values it could be great. Spike did a great job with Tut.

Not enough of TV shows in this setting, most of them are documentaries. We have enough TV shows with the fantasy setting.

Definitely, it is such a fascinating setting, only question would be the style I suppose; whether you'd try and make things a bit fantastical or just have a recreation of life at the time.
 
I feel like a horror show based in the Conjuring Universe would be big

A show based on Ed and Lorraine traveling around busting ghosts does have some potential to it.

IT really should have been a high budget series. Movies are just too short to ever really get the scope of the book and why it's so good.
 

Random Human

They were trying to grab your prize. They work for the mercenary. The masked man.
People distrust the government right now and they're big into nostalgia, so if you crunch the numbers you're looking at something like Close Encounters and The X-Files, possibly involving kids.
 

Geist-

Member
What's the reason? Never seen the show but I've heard mostly negative things about it and very few positive things.
You should check it out, it's one of my favorite shows of all time. I think it had more to do with people being uncomfortable with it being pretty in your face about social justice issues, and the orgies.

It also proven you need solid source material and established IP since it blown much bigger than any previous HBO show.

And here's the main problem - all the big ones are taken.
It doesn't need an established IP, let's not pretend that GoT has hit some record for viewership besides on its own channel. Lost had a similar viewership and it was an entirely original IP. Amazon needs talent, it needs an excellent marketing campaign, and it needs a great idea. It doesn't need to be an adaptation.
 
I would watch the hell out of an alternate history where native Americans weren't destroyed and were able to progress uninhibited, or in tandem with Europeans in America, into the modern day/near future. A sort of NA-futurism
 

Big-E

Member
Can't just replicate its success. It is popular because it initially had the blood and tits as well as doing something that is not common in popular fiction, killing lots of characters. Amazon can match on budget, but needs the right property.
 

Ronin Ray

Member
A show based on Ed and Lorraine traveling around busting ghosts does have some potential to it.

IT really should have been a high budget series. Movies are just too short to ever really get the scope of the book and why it's so good.

Do a Steven king show where every season is a different book and throw in random episodes based on his short stories.
 

Moongazer

Member
I wouldn't complain if they talk to RA Salvatore and WotC.

Adapt Salvatore's Forgotten Realms book series.
The Dark Elf Trilogy in particular has a lot of GoT style political shenanigans with rival houses and such. The Underdark is also more of a unique setting and would be pretty atmospheric if pulled off right. Unfortunately a lot cgi would be required and the Dark Elves would be difficult to pull off in live action. Hell most of the things in the Forgotten Realms and high fantasy settings in general would be difficult to do and would require a massive budget. I think that is one of the main reasons why fantasy hasn't really been a success on tv outside GoT. You need a lot of money to do it right.

As for Berserk. It hasn't even gotten a good adaptation in animation form. I don't see how a live action version would be faithful to the source material without a significantly bigger budget than what GoT has. Sequences like the
eclipse
would be extremely difficult to do right without butchering it. Berserk would be a challenge for Amazon even if they threw ridiculous money at it.
 
I always thought The Elenium by David Eddings would make an excellent television series, but I suspect it does not have enough twists to keep the soap opera crowd happy.
 
People distrust the government right now and they're big into nostalgia, so if you crunch the numbers you're looking at something like Close Encounters and The X-Files, possibly involving kids.

I would love to see Amazon attempt some TV show based on an algorithm, it would be a glorious train wreck.
 

Chao

Member
For starters, you need a series of books, written by an author who knows what he is doing, because we all know that show writers are like chickens without a head running aimlessly and throwing shit at the wall until something sticks.

And you'll need a lot of books if you want the show to last a few seasons, so they better had been released a couple of decades ago at least.

A series of books successful enough in the last couple of decades that are already popular between readers, but just don't have an adaptation yet.

I'd say Discworld, but the fact is that Discworld is 90% comedy and hits like this are about drama, blood and wieners.

And people would hate a western adaptation of Berserk.

Yeah I don't think you'll be getting anything like that anytime soon.
 

TheXbox

Member
Clueless. Every network wants their own GoT clone, and none of them understand why the show was so successful to begin with. You're six years too late.

If they want fantasy, Gene Wolf or Fritz Leiber have the best material that hasn't been adapted.
The Book of the New Sun can't be adapted. The landscape and geography are so (ironically) alien that the entire series would require an Avatar-esque budget. Best fit for animation, if anything, but wherever it goes it loses the literary quality that made it so special to begin with.
 
If it were that easy, every network would be full of top-rated shows

Did it? I feel like it was a pretty big hit right away.


I think peoples noticed it right away but to me it was S1
Ned's death
that made it a hit and S3 The Red Wedding that made it into a major pop culture phenomenon.
 

entremet

Member
Clueless. Every network wants their own GoT clone, and none of them understand why the show was so successful to begin with. You're six years too late.

The Book of the New Sun can't be adapted. The landscape and geography are so (ironically) alien that the entire series would require an Avatar-esque budget. Best fit for animation, if anything, but wherever it goes it loses the literary quality that made it so special to begin with.

It's not an impossible task but does require a lot of luck too. But can you blame every network for wanting a global hit? Nothing wrong with dreaming big dreams.

At the least, that would guarantee a decently written show with high production values.
 

Wag

Member
Ok, we're going all out- how about a Starship Troopers or Armor series?

A Foundation series? There are tons of classic sci-fi series that have yet to be mined.
 
I thought Man in the High Castle was doing okay for them. But yeah, I don't watch any of the Amazon originals. None of them have it.

I don't know if doing another fantasy series is the right call.

Would be down for another choronicals of prydian adaptation. But I think Disney has that on lock...

Look for a 90s nostalgic show to remake? Carmen Santiago?

adapt my life story

That would afforable at least.

Only gifs.
 

Geist-

Member
HBO already tried with "Rome". Wasn't a huge hit.

Then Starz also did "Spartacus".
I think after Game of Thrones, they could get people on board for a Rome remake/renewal. In a lot of ways Rome is what made GoT possible in the first place, so it would be nice if GoT could return the favor.

Rome, Camelot, hell Netflix pours a ton of money into projects like The Get Down, Marco Polo and The Crown. Getting the right people on board is vastly more important than just throwing money into a "hit" project and there's still a ton of luck involved. If it were just a money issue to catch lightning in a bottle every network and streaming site would have its own GoT.
I wasn't denying there was luck involved, only that if you're insanely rich it's a pretty achievable goal, especially with Amazon's method of throwing out a dozen pilots and seeing which ones do the best.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Amazon's viewerbase is every Amazon Prime member, and a quick Google tells me that that's 80 million subscribers. I think Amazon may have an advantage over other streaming services.
 

Wag

Member
I think after Game of Thrones, they could get people on board for a Rome remake/renewal. In a lot of ways Rome is what made GoT possible in the first place, so it would be nice if GoT could return the favor.


I wasn't denying there was luck involved, only that if you're insanely rich it's a pretty achievable goal, especially with Amazon's method of throwing out a dozen pilots and seeing which ones do the best.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Amazon's viewerbase is every Amazon Prime member, and a quick Google tells me that that's 80 million subscribers. I think Amazon may have an advantage over other streaming services.

I bet most of those Prime subscribers have Netflix too. I rarely ever watch anything on Amazon Prime.
 

sant

Member
Damn, I enjoyed Z. Amazon will never have a mega - show like GOT. Money is not there.



Unfortunately I concur


Edit - do the horus heresy from the beginning, script written competently. Could last forever
What are you talking about? Amazon spends almost twice what HBO does on original content, $4.5 billion. They are second only to Netflix. Netflix actually got scared and had to increase their spend in response to Amazon.
 
HBO already tried with "Rome". Wasn't a huge hit.

Then Starz also did "Spartacus".

I recall reading that HBO regreted cancelling that show. And I found Rome to be the only other TV series in the same level of Game of Thrones as far as production values and attention to detail is concerned.

HBO, or any other, should try to make a similar series but during the reign of Constantine or thereabout. It could be truly epic.
 
Top Bottom