Well, I guess we were all wrong when we thought it couldn’t get any worse.
While you might recall how… not good… the last couple of seasons of HBO’s Game of Thrones was, back when they were airing. Well, here’s a friendly reminder that we live in Hell. Because apparently AT&T execs wanted episodes of the show to be shot in portrait (a.k.a. vertically) for people watching on their phones.
This news comes from the Wall Street Journal, which spoke with showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff. The D’s two revealed that they were approached by AT&T executives with the idea to shoot the show vertically “so it would fit on your phone.” Executives also “openly discussed” making “snackable” mini episodes of the show. On that note, does anybody remember Quibi?
Dysfunction kills more projects than anything else, whether it’s interpersonal dysfunction or institutional dysfunction.
D.B. Weiss
I’d like to take a brief digression to note that one of the wonderful things about your smartphone is that you can, no shit, rotate it 90 degrees in either direction, and most apps will rotate and stretch widescreen video to properly fit your now 16:9 appropriate screen. I’ve never been given reason to respect the intelligence of people with an MBA, and I doubt you, dear reader, have either.
AT&T owned WarnerMedia for roughly 3 years, having bought the company in 2018 and sold it in 2021.
When you sign a five-year deal with a company, you want that company to be stable so you can be left alone to do your work and not have to worry about it being bought by the phone company. Finding the smoothest ride in the ocean was key.
David Benioff
That wasn’t the only such idea the show had to fend off from braindead suits. AT&T execs pitched the idea to HBO executives that, instead of the 13 episodes that were the final two seasons, there should instead be three theatrical movies to end the show. The HBO executives kindly reminded them that the show was being made for a channel called “Home Box Office”.
Given what we got, can you imagine how terrible these three hypothetical movies would have been?
The interview with Wall Street Journal is part of Benioff and Weiss’ promotion for their upcoming series 3 Body Problem, which debuts on Netflix this March 21st.
Source: IGN
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