Source:Variety

January 17, 2007

HBO has acquired the rights to turn George R.R. Martin's bestselling fantasy series "A Song of Fire and Ice" into a dramatic series to be written and executive produced by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, reports Variety.

"Fire" is the first TV project for Benioff (Troy) and Weiss (Halo) and will shoot in Europe or New Zealand. Benioff and Weiss will write every episode of each season together save one, which the author (a former TV writer) will script.

The series will begin with the 1996 first book, "A Game of Thrones," and the intention is for each novel (they average 1,000 pages each) to fuel a season's worth of episodes. Martin has nearly finished the fifth installment, but won't complete the seven-book cycle until 2011.

The author will co-executive produce the series along with Management 360's Guymon Casady and Created By's Vince Gerardis.