According to David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, the two came up with the idea of adapting George R. R. Martin's novels to the screen in 2006, after Benioff began reading the first novel, A Game of Thrones. He called Weiss to share his excitement, and Weiss finished the thousand-page book in "maybe 36 hours".[15] They successfully pitched the series to HBO, and convinced Martin – a veteran screenwriter himself – in the course of a five-hour meeting in a restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard to agree to the idea. Benioff recalled they won Martin over with their answer to his question: "Who is Jon Snow's mother?"
The series began development in January 2007.[16] HBO, after acquiring the TV rights to the novels, hired Benioff and Weiss to write and executive produce the series, which would cover one novel's worth of material per season.[16] Initially, Benioff and Weiss were to write every episode save one per season, which Martin, who also joined as a co-executive producer, was attached to write.[16][17] Jane Espenson and Bryan Cogman were later added to each write one episode of the first season.[2]
The first and second drafts of the pilot script, written by Benioff and Weiss, were submitted in August 2007[18] and June 2008,[19] respectively. While HBO found both drafts to their liking,[19][20] a pilot was not ordered until November 2008,[21] with the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike possibly delaying the process.[20]