Hollywood strike: Game of Thrones author’s contract “suspended”

Disturbing news keeps coming as Hollywood’s historic double whammy continues. Now it’s George A.R. Martin, creator of Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, who gives us some not-so-reassuring news. The writer and screenwriter provides updates on his current affairs as his fans know.

Already at the beginning of May, Martin announced that all the writing rooms related to Westeros – the famous “writers’ room” – were closed. including the development of its adaptation. Dunk and Egg Tales, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight. in the new post In a blog post dated July 22, Martin states that his overall deal with HBO was “Suspended from June 1“.

The author has indeed signed a deal to develop new projects for the cable channel in 2021, after it was announced that HBO was building a number of series from Game of Thrones to expand and better surf the success of its fantasy world.

But like everything else in the industry, it’s all currently on hold as Hollywood writers and actors fight for fairer pay, more transparency in the streaming age, and real vigilance about the use of artificial intelligence.

logical consequence

The contract suspension only applies to George RR Martin and HBO. After the writers’ strike began, Amazon, HBO, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBCUniversal, Disney, CBS Studios and other studios have announced plans to end first-run deals — a kind of priority viewing rights — and blanket deals.

At the beginning of May, we already told you how David Simon, one of the mainstays of HBO with such major creations as The Wire, Treme or The Deuce, joined and recalled that his contract is also suspended.

“I have a bad feeling this strike is going to be long and bitter“, Martin wrote in his post.It could become as bad as the infamous 1985 strike, although I hope not.“He adds that although he joined the WGA in 1986 and suffered a few strikes, it is”The most important thing in my life“.

He follows: “I still have a lot to do, of course. In this regard, I am one of the luckiest. (These strikes aren’t really about writers, producers, or showrunners, most of whom are doing well; we’re striking for budding writers, editors, students hoping to break through, the four-string actor, the guy in his first job who dreams of someday making his own show, like I did in the 80s.)“

Martin is busy with non-studio projects, including the progress of his long-awaited novel winter windThe sixth volume of the saga iron throne. He says he’s working on a novel.Almost every day. Write, rewrite, edit, and write some more. Make steady progress. Not as fast as I’d like… certainly not as fast as you’d like… but still progress. Keeps me out of trouble.“

Although Martin is not currently involved as a screenwriter, production on the second season of Dragon House continues. Due to UK local union rules, the series was able to continue filming as planned and Martin says significant progress has been made.

“I am told that the second season is half over“, he notes and then explains:All scripts were completed months before the WGA strike. No edits have been made since then, as far as I know.”

Paul Fleming, general secretary of Equity – the UK’s largest actors’ union – explained in a statement that the SAG-AFTRA strike is illegal under UK law, leaving the actors involved “with nothing”. Protection from being fired or sued for breach of contract by the producer or the person who hires him“The reason why he was able to continue filming was unlike others.