George R.R. Martin Says Working With Other Writers Is the Hardest Part of TV

George R.R. Martin, the author of A Song of Ice and Fire, recently talked about one of the hardest parts of working in television, and for him, it’s working with other writers. He made these comments during an interview with fellow fantasy writer Joe Abercrombie, held at the Kimo Theater in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The interview was recorded and shared on YouTube by Becca Monet.

While they discussed many things, Martin once again brought up his thoughts on book adaptations. He’s been open in the past about his disappointment with TV shows that don’t stick closely to the source material, including HBO’s House of the Dragon, which is based on his book Fire & Blood.

Martin explained that making TV or film is always a group effort, with directors, actors, and studio execs involved. But he said the toughest part, at least for him, is “dealing with the other writers.” He added, “You’re adapting your book or your story and they hire someone to do it and… they empower this writer: ‘Okay, take The Great Gatsby but make it your own.’ And I don’t want anyone to make The Great Gatsby their own.”

He also said he doesn’t believe screenwriters improve great books when they change them. “In most of the cases where a Hollywood screenwriter makes something their own, they don’t improve it. I think the majority of cases it’s the opposite.”

This isn’t a new opinion for Martin. Before the second season of House of the Dragon premiered, he wrote a blog post called The Adaptation Tango, where he said that many screenwriters feel the need to “make it their own,” no matter how good the original story is. He listed famous authors like Tolkien, Austen, and Dickens, saying their work often gets changed in ways that don’t help the story. “Nine hundred ninety-nine times out of a thousand, they make it worse,” he wrote.

Martin even posted, and later deleted, another blog entry called Beware the Butterflies, where he criticized House of the Dragon for leaving out important parts of Fire & Blood. He said the changes caused “a considerable loss” to the story.

Martin has been very clear about one thing: he loves stories the way they were first written and wants TV and film versions to stay true to the books.

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