Chapter 290: The Fantasy Series

"I haven't called home since I got off the plane. Mom must be worried."

Seeing Murphy suddenly stop, Gal Gadot put down the big towel and came over in a bathrobe, pushing him slightly, "Dear, what are you doing?"

"Oh, nothing. You make the call first." Murphy came back to his senses, pressed the power button, and handed the phone to Gal Gadot. He picked up the book and flipped through it until she finished the call, then asked, "Did you buy this book?"

"Yes, before boarding the plane, at a duty-free shop near Jerusalem Airport." Gal Gadot put down the phone, came over to Murphy, and took the book from his hand, "I met a friend while attending a Pan-World Jewish gathering in Jerusalem with my mom. She recommended this book to me. I bought it because I was bored on my way here."

She seemed to remember something, "Right, she's also struggling in Hollywood. When she came back, she went to the airport with me, but we were on different flights."

Hearing Gal Gadot say this, Murphy nodded, "Introduce me if you get a chance."

Just as Gal Gadot always warmly treated Murphy's friends like Robert Downey Jr., James Franco, and Kara Faith, he wouldn't ignore Gal Gadot's friends either.

And it's not a bad thing for Gal Gadot to have an American friend.

"She's gone to New York and will be in Los Angeles in a few days." Gal Gadot thought for a moment and said, "You're planning to have a celebration party, right? Why don't I invite her to come? I'm sure she'd be happy to meet you."

"Sure." Murphy had no objections, "If you have other friends who want to join, feel free to invite them."

Gal Gadot thought for a while, "I'll ask some of my classmates. They might be interested in coming."

After saying this, Murphy changed the topic back to the book, asking, "Have you read it?"

Gal Gadot handed the book to Murphy, pulled him to the couch, sat down, took a sip of water, and then said, "I flipped through it on the plane. It's not really to my taste; some parts are too bloody and too erotic for me. I don't like it much."

Realizing something, she suddenly woke up, "You're not considering the adaptation rights for this novel, are you?"

For a director, the purpose of being interested in a novel is obvious—adaptation rights, which Gal Gadot of course understood.

And with some of the descriptions in the book being so explicit and the overall style leaning towards dark, Gal Gadot wasn't surprised at all that Murphy was interested.

"Yeah." Murphy had no need to hide it from Gal Gadot, but still made some roundabout remarks, "I've read this book before but forgot the title. Seeing it again today reminded me. I like the style of this book."

Speaking of which, he placed the novel on the coffee table in front of the couch. The book's cover bore a line of large characters that were particularly striking—A Song of Ice and Fire: Game of Thrones!

"You always like something with a big scope..." Gal Gadot flipped through the book, "When will you make a film that's completely suitable for women to watch?"

Murphy couldn't help but scratch his head, "That's... a bit difficult, you know I'm not good at that kind of theme."

However, he then remembered something, "I think there's a good theme that also fully reflects feminist ideas."

Gal Gadot showed interest, "What theme?"

Murphy leaned close to her ear, deliberately lowering his voice, mysteriously saying, "The game we play."

"You always have these things on your mind." Gal Gadot pushed him dissatisfiedly but stood up, "I'm going to change clothes. Where did you put my armor and Sword of the Fire God?"

"Over here."

Casually throwing the book A Song of Ice and Grass aside, Murphy pulled Gal Gadot, eagerly running towards the dressing room.

The next morning, Murphy went to CAA to find Bill Ross, asking him to arrange a meeting with George R.R. Martin to try to acquire the adaptation rights for the novel.

"I know this series, I've read it before."

Looking through the novel, Bill Ross said, "I think it's unwise to acquire its film adaptation rights. This book belongs to the fantasy genre, with content that is too vast and complex. With Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings set as a precedent, if you want to make it into a film, it will inevitably be compared..."

"No, not a film." Murphy shook his head, "My goal is a TV series, aired on cable with a large scale!"

Considering the current situation of the North American film market, if this series were adapted into a film, the epic genre would undoubtedly encounter many difficulties, as Bill Ross said. It would definitely be compared with Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and movie fans, having seen The Lord of the Rings films first, would definitely have much higher expectations.

TV series are different, cable TV series have a larger scale, are easier to attract viewers, and the audience's expectations for TV series and films are completely different.

This TV series' fame was once so well-known that even someone like Murphy, who is not a fan of American TV series, heard people around him talk about it countless times. He also tried to watch it, though like many others, he was more focused on A Song of Ice and Fire, resulting in him only briefly skimming through it with his mouse. But it still left a deep impression on him.

Although Murphy hadn't read the novels, his impressions and feelings about Game of Thrones all came from that fast-forward browsing.

Although both are fantasy literary works, A Song of Ice and Fire: Game of Thrones is entirely different from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

The former clearly distinguishes between good and evil, leaning towards a child-friendly approach, as The Lord of the Rings was originally written by Tolkien for his own children.

The latter is completely adult-oriented, without clear distinctions between good and evil, mainly describing a series of court intrigues, battlefield fights, adventurous travels, and magical confrontations in a fictional medieval world. In terms of content and style, A Song of Ice and Fire is a mirror of real life, with a true portrayal of human nature, making it a classic serious fantasy series.

Although it's a fantasy series, Murphy's impression was that, in terms of "magic," George R.R. Martin followed his idol Tolkien's practice of not using magic lightly, making it just an element needed to add atmosphere to the novel. It seemed like in the TV series he watched, almost none of the main characters knew magic, not fundamentally different from real humans.

Leaving the Death Star building where CAA is located, Murphy first went to a nearby bookstore to buy a set of the published A Song of Ice and Fire books, then returned to Stanton Studio, temporarily putting aside other work to seriously read them.

By the afternoon, Bill Ross sent a message; he had contacted the publisher of A Song of Ice and Fire, Chicken with Short Legs Publishing, and using CAA's resources, inquired within the circle. It seems like, influenced by the success of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings

, Hollywood producers now prefer works from England for epic series types, rather than works by Americans with no historical background.

Series like The Chronicles of Narnia and The Golden Compass have become the focus of Hollywood producers' competition.

According to the situation passed by Bill Ross, the A Song of Ice and Fire series, although already somewhat famous, has not reached its former heights. In the late '90s and early 2000s, there were inquiries about the adaptation rights, but due to the low offers, they were rejected by George Martin, and since then, the adaptation rights have basically been unclaimed.

Even if he won't have much time to invest in the long filming and production of a TV series in the future, Murphy knew this was a good investment opportunity.

Stanton Studio could also have a long-term business.

Since its establishment, Stanton Studio has been a nominal shell company. Murphy had ambitious plans for a while, even thinking about whether Stanton Studio could be built into a production and distribution company that could compete with the big six of Hollywood. But as he later collaborated with other film companies, he gradually realized that was wishful thinking. Under the stranglehold of the big six and their backing groups, there was no chance of that happening in the short term.

The most important thing was, he didn't have the funds or the network. Even if he went for financing, how many capital groups would be willing to invest a huge sum of money in him?

To be honest, aside from some insights into filmmaking, he couldn't compare to any one of the DreamWorks trio, not even half.

Dreams are okay to have, but they must be within one's capabilities; otherwise, it's not a dream but a delusion.

If he could acquire the adaptation rights for A Song of Ice and Fire, Stanton Studio could definitely expand appropriately. The company's business, besides helping him, the director, with tax avoidance, could completely invest all its energy into the production of this TV series.

With some luck, Stanton Studio could become one of the top-income TV series production companies in the industry based on this business alone...

Murphy's ideas and plans were beautiful, but achieving them was not easy. The first step was to buy the adaptation rights.

After Bill Ross's preliminary contact with Chicken with Short Legs Publishing, Murphy personally met with George R.R. Martin to discuss.

Strictly speaking, George Martin had also spent time in Hollywood, once serving as a screenwriter for The Twilight Zone. However, screenwriters in Hollywood aren't highly regarded, and their income wasn't great in the '80s, so he simply left Hollywood, went home, and became a full-time writer.

In CAA's reception room, Murphy met the full-time writer with large glasses and a beard.

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