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  ===Conception and development===
  A number of Hollywood studios had contacted George R. R. Martin about possibly adapting his book series ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' into a film. However, Martin expressed the opinion the books could not be made into a film as too much would have to be cut from the books, but thought it could be made into a television series. In January 2006, David Benioff happened to speak to Martin's literary agent, and the agent sent the first four books of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' to David Benioff. Benioff read a few hundred pages of the first book in the series, ''A Game of Thrones'', called D. B. Weiss and said: "Maybe I'm crazy, but I haven't had this much fun reading anything in about 20 years. So take a look because I think it might make a great HBO series." Weiss, who then read the first book in two days, was very enthusiastic about a possible television project based on the books. They arranged a meeting with Martin, who asked them if they knew who Jon Snow's real mother might be, and was satisfied with their answer.
  In March 2006, a few weeks after meeting Martin, Benioff and Weiss pitched the show to Showtime and then Carolyn Strauss of HBO, the latter of whom accepted their proposal. HBO acquired the rights to the novels to turn them into a television series, with Benioff and Weiss as writers and executive producers of the series. The series went into development in January 2007. The series would begin with the first book from 1996, "A Game of Thrones", with the intention that each novel in the series would form the basis for a season's worth of episodes. However, Benioff and Weiss had to resubmit a proposal after Carolyn Strauss stepped down as president of HBO in 2008. The first and second drafts of the pilot script, written by Benioff and Weiss, were submitted in August 2007 and June 2008 respectively. While HBO found both drafts to their liking, a pilot was not ordered until November 2008.