George R.R. Martin did pull off a massacre, especially with the ending of “Game Of Thrones.” It was definitely a massacre. But in his recent blog, he talks about a valid issue that is definitely affecting the quality of writing.
If you are a dedicated viewer or a cinephile, you will definitely see that the quality of writing is going downhill, and Martin might be right in his observation.
There are basically two kinds of screenwriting: either you have some original ideas, or you adapt from existing material. The second one, if not done correctly, leaves a very bad taste.
Martin and Neil Gaiman discussed this issue. They have been correct to diagnose the problem: while adapting material during screenwriting, they are not faithful to the original works.
Martin narrated, “Very little has changed since then, if anything, things have gotten worse. Everywhere you look, there are more screenwriters and producers eager to take great stories and ‘make them their own.’”
“It does not seem to matter whether the source material was written by Stan Lee, Charles Dickens, Ian Fleming, Roald Dahl, Ursula K. Le Guin, J.R.R. Tolkien, Mark Twain, Raymond Chandler, Jane Austen, or… well, anyone.”
He later added, “No matter how major a writer it is, no matter how great the book, there always seems to be someone on hand who thinks he can do better, eager to take the story and ‘improve’ on it. ‘The book is the book, the film is the film,’ they will tell you, as if they were saying something profound. Then they make the story their own. They never make it better, though. Nine hundred ninety-nine times out of a thousand, they make it worse.”
“Once in a while we do get a really good adaptation of a really good book, and when that happens, it deserves applause.”
Now, whatever he said is true to the last ‘T.’ The quality of writing has observed a major downfall. Though there are strong shows here and there, like “Shogun” or “American Fiction,” the overall quality has definitely declined.
Sometimes the writers don’t even read the whole material before making it their own, causing inconsistency in the quality of the show.
The concern is true, and it definitely causes major problems when it comes to quality. It needs to improve, at least when it comes to writing. The mindset of the audience is improving; the scenario needs to change.