After being showrunners for arguably one of the biggest television shows in history, Game of Thrones, it makes sense that David Benioff and DB Weiss have their careers laid out for them. Whatever projects they work on will be in high demand, even if fans aren’t too impressed about the effort that was given to the series’ final season.
So when the time came to their contracts being up at HBO, it made sense that a bidding war might ensue for their services. And although they received a lot of interest from HBO themselves, along with Amazon and Disney, it was Netflix that swooped in to secure a massive $200 million contract with the duo to create new content for the streaming service, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
Considering Netflix is prepared to spend insane amounts of money on new content, I guess it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that they were willing to fork out like this for arguably the two biggest TV writers in the world right now. Money which Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos, believes is well spent:
We are thrilled to welcome master storytellers David Benioff and Dan Weiss to Netflix. They are a creative force and have delighted audiences worldwide with their epic storytelling. We can’t wait to see what their imaginations will bring to our members
The deal will see the pair stop working for HBO, putting their planned alternate history civil war series Confederate in doubt at HBO. It will apparently not affect their Star Wars film trilogy which will still be expected to start hitting theatres in around 2022. It’s not clear exactly what new content Benioff and Weiss will be working on for Netflix at the moment, though given their love of fantasy and sci-fi, it could easily fit into those two categories, which is where Netflix has found a lot of success already.
While many could argue that the massive amount given to Benioff and Weiss is excessive given their recent form on the last season of Game of Thrones, the studio execs all seem to be in love with their ideas and abilities and are clearly willing to invest fortunes in them. Let’s hope that for Netflix, it’s money that works out and we could soon be seeing the next big ground-breaking show coming to the streaming service in the near future.
Last Updated: August 12, 2019
G8crasha
August 12, 2019 at 09:30
Not every signing will lead to a quality product. Let’s hope I am proven wrong!
Pariah
August 12, 2019 at 09:31
No matter if they produce gold or shit, your statement is correct. Your statement will always be correct.
In this case, they have the talent, they just need to produce gold instead of shit. Right now, it’s Schrodinger’s Benioff/Weiss.
For the Emperor!
August 12, 2019 at 11:08
Perhaps if they get to tell their own story this time…
Alien Emperor Trevor
August 12, 2019 at 09:31
I’m not so sure this is a wise decision. Neither has much to their name other than Game of Thrones, and in my mind one successful show doesn’t make you worth $100 million each. Unless you want to count X-Men Origins: Wolverine?
And that’s not even getting into the relative merits of the last couple of seasons where the show diverged more noticeably from the books.
For the Emperor!
August 12, 2019 at 11:07
Just a thought – perhaps the lackluster final two seasons of GoT was not just due to running out of source material…perhaps the two ran out of steam telling someone else’s story as well? Whatever, I don’t specifically follow actors, directors or writers. So I might be enjoying whatever they do next without knowing it!
RinceThis
August 12, 2019 at 11:35
200 mil? Damn these guys are good negotiators. Wonder how many shows they need to create on this?
Yahtzee
August 12, 2019 at 09:22
No thank you. These two imbeciles can go direct children’s cartoons or something else that does not need a lot of thought for the story or characters.
Pariah
August 12, 2019 at 09:30
The Dead Sea called, it wants its salt back.
Yahtzee
August 12, 2019 at 09:40
For 200 mil, i’ll salt that sea real good
Pariah
August 12, 2019 at 09:40
That sounds dirtier than I think you intended.
DragonSpirit009
August 12, 2019 at 09:40
That’s the only way he knows how to do it XD
For the Emperor!
August 12, 2019 at 11:08
That is an awesome line!
Magoo マグ
August 12, 2019 at 11:17
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/66e1bcc9e3c16c2752d53368a867323d37a429c7a7b0a7d2de5e458d45eeb663.gif
Magoo マグ
August 12, 2019 at 11:17
All directors have lows. Ideally you would look at what they are capable of. How high can they reach at the best of times. That’s where you strike oil, not with consistent adequacy.