Game of Thrones showrunners reveal AT&T’s ridiculous filming request

The showrunners behind Game of Thrones have revealed that their parent company asked for some episodes to be fit for vertical consumption.

Game of Thrones is one of the biggest shows to ever grace the small screen despite ending five years ago.

Based on the novel series George R.R. Martin, the show debuted eight seasons of movie-quality television, for better or worse, through HBO Max under the watchful eyes of showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss.

However, the duo has recently revealed that getting the last season out came with lofty expectations as AT&T, their parent company at the time, made some outlandish requests when it came to how the show was filmed.

AT&T wanted “snackable” Game of Thrones episodes

While chatting with The Wall Street Journal to promote their upcoming sci-fi film 3 Body, Benioff and Weiss reflected on Game of Thrones’ last season and the outrageous request AT&T executives asked of them.

AT&T purchased Warner Bros. — which owns HBO — in 2019, and the final season of Game of Thrones aired the following year.

According to the WSJ, “Benioff and Weiss, who have been friends since grad school, weren’t crazy about HBO’s then-owners, AT&T, whose executives once asked whether Game of Thrones could be shot vertically so it would fit on your phone. The company also openly discussed the idea of snackable mini-episodes of the series.”

“Dysfunction kills more projects than anything else, whether it’s interpersonal dysfunction or institutional dysfunction,” Weiss explained.

HBO Max

Benioff echoed the sentiments of his creative partner, adding, “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.”

The idea that AT&T wanted Benioff and Weiss to cater the final season of Game of Thrones to a phone audience is pretty laughable since the entire series was shot in a way that it should be viewed on a movie theater rather than the average TV screen.

The duo actually faced some backlash about the high-quality production behind the show’s filming during “The Long Night” (Season 8, Episode 3) because fans thought it was too dark to see anything, but it turned out it was compressed too much, so it could be viewed through everyone’s TV.

One could only imagine how fans would react if the show’s compression got worse due to AT&T wanting the series to be viewed on a phone.