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The Lost Lords — Found!

February 3, 2015 at 11:58 pm
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Telltale Games has released a trailer for “The Lost Lords,” the second episode in their GAME OF THRONES videogame, centering on the travails of House Forrester of the wolfswood, bannermen to the Starks of Winterfell.

Looks pretty nifty. Take a look:

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I haven’t played the game myself, but all the reports I’m hearing are very enthusiastic. My former minion, Ty Franck, helped to write the scenario before he went off to become half of James S.A. Corey, and it looks like he and the Telltale crew did a bang-up job.

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Marathon Time!

February 3, 2015 at 11:45 pm
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Yes, we’re doing it again.

February begins Marathon Month at the Jean Cocteau Cinema. We may not boast the colossal screens of IMAX theatres, but we do have a pretty cool medium-sized screen, bigger than your TV sets, and we’ll be presenting the entire fourth season of GAME OF THRONES on it, starting February 17.

We did think of showing all of the first four seasons, but that’s forty hours of television, and we would have needed to start around Thanksgiving if we wanted weekly screenings. So we decided to restrict ourselves to a single season this time around. We ran the first three seasons last year, after all. And there’s plenty of spectacular fun to be had in season four.

You remember:
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We’ll be showing two episodes a week, on Tuesday nights, for five weeks. The schedule:

TUESDAY February 17 episodes 401 & 402
TUESDAY February 24 episodes 403 & 404
TUESDAY March 3 episodes 405 & 406
TUESDAY March 10 episodes 407 & 408
TUESDAY March 17 episodes 409 & 410

Wherever possible, we will also feature cast members, writers, and directors answering audience questions after the episodes… most via Skype, but we are hoping to arrange some personal appearances as well. Sibel Kekilli and Pedro Pascal have already agreed to Skype in with us. More to come.

The bad news is, sorry, you cannot buy tickets for these shows. The good news is, ALL SCREENINGS ARE FREE. First come, first seated will be the rule, just like it was last year… and do recall, the Cocteau has only 125 – 130 seats. We expect every one to be filled. Last year we had people lining up before the sun rose.

Of course, we will have plenty of GAME OF THRONES merchandise for sale… along with signed books… special Westeros-themed cocktails… and our justly famous buttered popcorn.

See you there, I hope!

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Season 5 Trailer Unveiled

February 3, 2015 at 11:38 am
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I was at the SuperBowl this past weekend. Great game with a terrible ending. But overall, still an amazing experience.

Others — millions of others, actually — were at IMAX theatres across the land, for the special IMAX screenings of episodes 9 and 10 from the fourth season of GAME OF THRONES. I would have loved to have seen that too, but alas, there’s no Imax near me.

Those who did make it to an Imax saw the first full-length trailer for season five.

For those who were not, like me, here it is in all its glory. Enjoy.

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Telltale Two Trailer

January 22, 2015 at 12:57 pm
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Telltale Games has just released a trailer for the second episode of their GAME OF THRONES videogame.

This one is called "The Lost Lords."  (Hey, good title).

Enjoy.

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A Tease from IMAX

January 20, 2015 at 7:59 pm
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If you happen to live in or near a town with an IMAX theater, it may be that you'll be one of the lucky ones who will get to see GAME OF THRONES on the big, big, BIG screen on January 29.

HBO will be screening the last two episodes from season 4 — "Watchers on the Walls" and "The Children" — at selected IMAX theatres for one week only.

Here's a taste:

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Alas, the Jean Cocteau does not have an IMAX screen.  There is an IMAX down in Albuquerque, but last I heard, it was not one of the theatres selected for those promotion, so New Mexicans are out of luck.

But not completely — the Jean Cocteau WILL be doing another free GAME OF THRONES marathon this year, screening all of the episodes from season four on our… alas… modest medium-sized screen.  We do hope to have cast and crew joining us via Skype, however.  So watch this space closely for details, and go to the Cocteau web site and sign up for our newsletter.

And all you folks who have an IMAX near at hand, enjoy the spectacle.

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Weekend Contests

January 9, 2015 at 4:42 pm
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Some big big contests this weekend.

In the NFL, it's the divisional round.  On Saturday, Baltimore is at New England and the Carolina Panthers are at Seattle.   My former assistant Ty is a big Panthers fan, so my feelings for them are largely positive… but I like the Seahawks too.  I had a very pleasant breakfast with their owner a few months ago. I have no favorite in that game.  Of couse, I will be rooting hard for the Ravens to defeat Evil Little Bill and his Patriots.  Hey, they are named in honor of Edgar Allen Poe, a fellow writer… and while it is true they beat my Giants in a SuperBowl once, it's been a long time, I forgive them.

On Sunday, it is Dallas at Green Bay and Indianapolis at Denver.  I am for Denver in the AFC game; after all, Peyton is Eli's big brother.  And the Colts should never have left Baltimore besides, so pfui to the Irsays.  The early game, hey, no contest, I have hated and despised the Cowboys even longer than I have hated the Patriots, so I will be pulling hard for Green Bay and that baaaaad man Aaron Rogers.

(Meanwhile, I will also be rooting for the Jets to get a kickass GM and head coach, for Rex to get another head coaching job, and for my Giants to bring back Steve Spagnuolo as defensive coordinator).

The NFL isn't the only contest this weekend.  This year's Golden Globe Awards will also be presented on Sunday night, and GAME OF THRONES is nominated in Best Dramatic Series.  The competition this time around is HOUSE OF CARDS, THE AFFAIR, THE GOOD WIFE, and DOWNTON ABBEY.   David Benioff and Dan Weiss and Carolyn Strauss and a number of our other producers and cast members will be on hand at the ceremony, though I won't be there myself this year.  But I will watching from home and cheering loudly for the show, and hoping that my friends and colleagues get a Globe (the GG rules are such that I would not get one myself, even if we win).

So in conclusion:

GO RAVENS
GO PACKERS
GO DRAGONS
GO DIREWOLVES

GO HBO!

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Sibel Is Coming

December 12, 2014 at 12:28 pm
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I think Sibel Kekilli has forgiven me for killing Shae.  🙂

She must have, surely, because she's coming to Santa Fe week after next.

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Those of you who are GAME OF THRONES fans know Sibel best for her turn as Shae, of course… but this beautiful young German actress has done a great deal more of that.  Among her other honors, she's won the Lola Award — the 'German Oscar' — not once but twice.  In honor of Sibel's visit, we'll going to be screening the first of her Lola-winning performances.  For three nights only,  you can see HEAD ON on the big (well, medium sized) at the Jean Cocteau Cinema.

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HEAD ON will be showing on December 18th, 19th, and 20th.  Tickets will soon be available through the Jean Cocteau website at http://www.jeancocteaucinema.com/    And circle the middle date on your calendars.  December 19 is the date that Sibel will be joining us at the theatre to introduce the film, talk about her life and career, and answer your questions… about HEAD ON, sure, but I imagine she'd be glad to take some GAME OF THRONES questions too.

(And we will have plenty of Ice & Fire books on hand for her to sign, including the new 'Making Of' book).

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See you at the movies.

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Awards, Awards

December 11, 2014 at 12:34 pm
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Award season is at hand in Hollywood, and GAME OF THRONES is racking up the nominations.

The show scored three nods from SAG, the Screen Actors Guild.  Peter Dinklage was nominated as Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series, along with Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey of TRUE DETECTIVE, Steve Buschemi from BOARDWALK EMPIRE, and Kevin Spacey for HOUSE OF CARDS.   The cast as a whole was nominated for Best Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama, and our stunt team was nominated for Best Action Performance by an Ensemble.

Variety has the full list at http://variety.com/2014/film/news/sag-awards-nominations-birdman-boyhood-1201375775/

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This year's Golden Globe have also just been announced.  The Hollywood Foreign Press Association nominated GAME OF THRONES in Best Drama.  The competition is THE GOOD WIFE, DOWNTON ABBEY, THE AFFAIR, and HOUSE OF CARDS.  (Very surprised not to see BOARDWALK EMPIRE on that list; their final season was astounding.  MANHATTAN also deserved a nod, I think.  This is truly the Golden Age of television drama).

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As ever, it is an honor to be nominated, to be part of the conversation.

(I remain skeptical about our chances of actually winning, the bias against fantasy being what it is).

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GOT, HBO Score WGA Nominations

December 4, 2014 at 2:53 pm
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The Writers Guild of America has just announced the nominees for its annual awards, and HBO and GAME OF THRONES are both well represented on the shortlists.

The writing staff of GAME OF THRONES season four (David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Bryan Cogman, and me) scored another nomination for Best Dramatic Series.  We'll be up against THE GOOD WIFE, HOUSE OF CARDS, TRUE DETECTIVE, and MAD MEN.

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But that's not all.  In the Episodic Drama category, my own season four episode, "The Lion and the Rose," was nominated.  It will be competing against episodes from THE GOOD WIFE, RECTIFY, MAD MEN, and two strong BOARDWALK EMPIREs.  Tough company indeed.

But I am thrilled by the nomination.  The last time one of my scripts was nominated was 1987, when one of my TWILIGHT ZONE episodes was a finalist.  (I lost to Harlan Ellison, with another TZ script).  So it's very cool to make the shortlist. 

For a full list of nominees, go to:

 http://www.eonline.com/news/603528/game-of-thrones-orange-is-the-new-black-and-true-detective-lead-2015-wga-nominations

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Iron from Ice

November 18, 2014 at 12:28 am
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There's a new GAME OF THRONES computer game on the way, this one from Telltale Games.

Unlike the earlier games from Cyanide, this is an HBO license, derived from the television series rather than the novels, so the characters will look like their TV incarnations, and in many cases will be voiced by the actors who play them on the show.   The action is centered around House Forrester, bannermen to the Starks of Winterfell whose seat in the wolfswood.  (Some Forresters are mentioned in the Stannis chapters, when he marches south from the Wall to attack Winterell, but very little is said about them, which made them ideal for game purposes).

The game will be sort of a side story to the show (and books), swirling and around major events.  Ty Franck, my longtime assistant who went off to become half of James S.A. Corey and write the Expanse novels, acted as a consultant on story and continuity for Telltale.

The first teaser trailer has just been released.  Have a look:

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