David Benioff

David Benioff
Benioff in 2016
Born David Friedman
(1970-09-25) September 25, 1970
New York City, New York, U.S.
Alma mater Dartmouth College
The Collegiate School
Trinity College Dublin
University of California, Irvine
Occupation Screenwriter, television producer, television writer, novelist
Years active 2002–present
Spouse(s)
Amanda Peet (m. 2006)
Children 3
Parent(s) Stephen Friedman

David Benioff (/ˈbɛniɒf/; born David Friedman /ˈfriːdmən/; September 25, 1970) is an American screenwriter, television producer and writer, and novelist. He is the co-creator and showrunner of the widely acclaimed award-winning HBO series Game of Thrones.

Early life

Benioff was born David Friedman in New York City to a Jewish family with roots in Austria, Romania, Germany, Poland and Russia.[1][2] He is the son of Barbara (Benioff) and Stephen Friedman, who is a former head of Goldman Sachs.[3] He is a distant cousin of Marc Benioff.[4] As an adult, he uses the last name of Benioff, his mother's maiden name, to avoid confusion with other writers named David Friedman.[5] He is the youngest of three children (Suzy, Caroline, and David).[6] He grew up in Manhattan, first in Peter Cooper Village, then on 86th Street where he spent most of his childhood, before eventually moving near the U.N. headquarters when he was sixteen.[7]

He is an alumnus of The Collegiate School and of Dartmouth College. While at Dartmouth he was a member of Phi Delta Alpha Fraternity and the Sphinx Senior Society. After he graduated in 1992, he worked in a number of jobs; for a time as a club bouncer in San Francisco, and he became a high school English teacher at Poly Prep in Brooklyn, New York City for two years, and served as the school's wrestling coach.[7][8] Benioff became interested in pursuing an academic career, and went to Trinity College Dublin in 1995 for a one-year program to study Irish literature, and while in Dublin he met D.B. Weiss, who would later become his collaborator.[1] He wrote a thesis on Samuel Beckett while at Trinity College, but decided against a career in academia after writing the thesis.[7] He worked as a radio DJ in Moose, Wyoming for a year—mostly as a side job, which he mainly accepted to take a year in the countryside as a writer's retreat.[9] He then applied to join the Creative Writing Program at the University of California Irvine after reading The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon (an alumnus there),[10] and received a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing there in 1999.[11]

In 2001, People magazine included Benioff on its list of America's Top 50 Most Eligible Bachelors.[12]

Career

Writing career

Benioff spent two years writing his first published novel The 25th Hour,[13][14] originally titled Fireman Down, and completed the book as his thesis for his master's degree at Irvine.[15][16] He was asked to adapt the book into a screenplay after Tobey Maguire read a preliminary trade copy and became interested in making a film of the book.[11] It was filmed as 25th Hour, starring Edward Norton and directed by Spike Lee.[17][16] He then wrote a collection of short stories titled When the Nines Roll Over (And Other Stories) in 2004.[18]

Benioff drafted a screenplay of the mythological epic Troy (2004) for which Warner Bros pictures paid him $2.5 million.[19] He also wrote the script for the psychological thriller Stay (2005), which was directed by Marc Forster and starred Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts. His screenplay for The Kite Runner (2007), adapted from the novel of the same name, marked his second collaboration with director Marc Forster.

He was hired in 2004 to write the screenplay for the X-Men spin-off X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009). He based his script on Barry Windsor-Smith's "Weapon X" story, Chris Claremont and Frank Miller's 1982 limited series on the character,[20][21] as well as the 2001 limited series Origin.[22] Hugh Jackman collaborated on the script, which he wanted to be more of a character piece compared with the previous X-Men films.[23] Skip Woods was later hired by Fox to revise and rewrite Benioff's script.[24] Benioff had aimed for a "darker and a bit more brutal" story, writing it with an R rating in mind, although he acknowledged the film's final tone would rest with the producers and director.[20]

In 2006, Benioff became interested in adapting the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series by George R.R. Martin and began working with D.B. Weiss on a proposed television series Game of Thrones.[25] The pilot was put into development by HBO in 2007 and the series greenlit in 2010. They act as the executive producers, showrunners and writers of the show, which began airing on HBO in 2011. Benioff and Weiss had previously worked together on a script for a horror film titled The Headmaster, but it was never made.[7]

In 2008, his second novel, City of Thieves was published. He has been hired by Universal Pictures in October 2007 to write an adapted screenplay of the Charles R. Cross biography of Kurt Cobain but the screenplay was not used.[26]

On April 10, 2014, Benioff announced he and D.B. Weiss had taken on their first feature film project to write, produce and direct Dirty White Boys, a novel by Pulitzer prize-winning author Stephen Hunter.[27][28] On July 19, 2017, Benioff announced that he and Weiss are going to begin production on another HBO series, titled Confederate, after the final season of Game of Thrones. Benioff and Weiss said, "We have discussed Confederate for years, originally as a concept for a feature film, but our experience on Thrones has convinced us that no one provides a bigger, better storytelling canvas than HBO."[29]

On February 6, 2018, Disney announced that both Benioff and Weiss will write and produce a new series of Star Wars films after the finale season of Game of Thrones is completed in 2019.[30]

Directing career

Benioff and D.B. Weiss together directed two episodes of Game of Thrones, but used a coin-flip to decide who would get the credit on the show. Benioff was given the credit for episode 3 of the third season, "Walk of Punishment", while Weiss was credited with "Two Swords", the first episode of season 4.[7] Benioff and Weiss will direct the series finale of Game of Thrones.[31]

Personal life

On September 30, 2006, Benioff married actress Amanda Peet in New York City.[32] Together they have three children: Frances "Frankie"[33] Pen Friedman,[34] born February 20, 2007;[35] Molly June Friedman,[34] born in 2010; and Henry Peet[36] Friedman,[34] born December 6, 2014.[37] The family lives in Manhattan and Beverly Hills, California.

Bibliography

Author

TitleYearTypeNote
The 25th Hour2001NovelPaperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Plume; Reissue edition (January 29, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN 0-452-28295-0
When the Nines Roll Over (and Other Stories)2004NovelHardcover: 223 pages
Publisher: Viking Books (August 19, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN 0-670-03339-1
City of Thieves2008NovelHardcover: 281 pages
Publisher: Viking Books (May 15, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN 0-670-01870-8

Filmography

Film

YearTitleDirectorWriterProducerNotes
2002 25th Hour Yes Nominated—Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay (2002)
2004 Troy Yes
2005 Stay Yes
When the Nines Roll Over Yes Yes Yes Short film based on a story from When the Nines Roll Over
2007 The Kite Runner Yes Christopher Award for Best Feature Film (2007)
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film (2008)
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (2008)
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (2007)
2009 X-Men Origins: Wolverine Yes Wrote with Skip Woods
Brothers Yes
2019 Gemini Man Yes Wrote with Brian Helgeland and Andrew Niccol

Television

YearTitleDirectorWriterProducerNotes
2011–present Game of Thrones Yes Yes Yes Co-creator
Executive producer
Directed and wrote episode: "Walk of Punishment"
Wrote: 45 episodes
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series (2015-2016)[38]
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (2015-2016)[38]
Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form (2012)[39]
Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form (2013-2014)[40][41]
Producers Guild of America Award for Best Episodic Drama (2015)[42]
Golden Nymph Awards for Outstanding International Producer (2012)[43]
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series (2011-2014)[38]
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (2011-2014)[38]
Nominated—Producers Guild of America Award for Best Episodic Drama (2011-2014, 2016, 2018)[44][45][46][47][48][49]
Nominated—BAFTA for Best International Programme (2013)[50]
Nominated—Writers Guild of America Award for Dramatic Series (2011-2012, 2014-2016, 2018)[51][52][53][54][55][56]
Nominated—Writers Guild of America Award for Episodic Drama (2015-2016)[54][55]
Nominated—Writers Guild of America Award for New Series (2011)[51]
Nominated—Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form (2015, 2017)[57][58]
Nominated—USC Scripter Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (2016-2017)[59][60]
Nominated—Humanitas Prize for 60 Minute Network or Syndicated Television (2017)[61]
2013–2017 It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Yes Wrote episode: "Flowers for Charlie"
Bored Lifeguard #1 (cameo in "The Gang Goes to a Water Park")

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Kamin, Debra (May 20, 2014). "The Jewish legacy behind 'Game of Thrones'". The Times of Israel. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  2. ↑ Bloom, Nate (February 2, 2012). "Jewish Stars: genealogy and fairy tales". Cleveland Jewish News.
  3. ↑ "Deaths: Benioff, Florence". The New York Times. August 28, 2000. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  4. ↑ Bort, Julie (April 12, 2015). "How these famous Benioffs are related". Business Insider. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  5. ↑ Alden, William (March 19, 2014). "Former Goldman Chief Walks Among Warriors and Dragons". DealBook.
  6. ↑ cityfile. "Stephen Friedman". gawker.com. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 "The Surprising Connection Between Game of Thrones and Monty Python". Vanity Fair. March 24, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Novelist and Hollywood Personality David Benioff: He's a Former English Teacher". Chalkboard Champions. December 18, 2013.
  9. ↑ Ellis, James (October 27, 2009). "David Benioff". Metro.
  10. ↑ Gottlieb, Jeff (September 2, 2002). "Program Gives Writers a Professional Polish". The Los Angeles Times.
  11. 1 2 Katie Kilkenny (May 12, 2011). "Benioff '92 embraces storytelling in 'surreal' career". The Dartmouth.
  12. ↑ "America's Top 50 Bachelors". People.com.
  13. ↑ Jalon, Allan M. (May 13, 2001). "How to Write a Powerful First Novel in a Bland Age". Los Angeles Times.
  14. ↑ Gottlieb, Jeff (December 2, 2002). "His Finest Hour". Los Angeles Times.
  15. ↑ "Crowning achievement". UCI News. August 12, 2014.
  16. 1 2 Benioff, David (May 3, 2003). "One more hour". The Guardian.
  17. ↑ "Q: What do Brad Pitt, Spike Lee and the Iliad have in common? A: David Benioff, Hollywood's latest wonder kid". Herald Scotland. March 29, 2003.
  18. ↑ Stephenson, Anne (August 30, 2004). "Screenwriter's short stories shine". USA TODAY.
  19. ↑ "Novelist and Hollywood Personality David Benioff: He's a Former English Teacher". Chalkboard Champions. December 18, 2013. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  20. 1 2 Mishler, James (June 2005). "David Benioff, Screenwriter of Wolverine: He's One of Us". Comics Buyer's Guide: 18–20.
  21. ↑ Daniel Robert Epstein (December 28, 2004). "David Benioff". SuicideGirls. Retrieved February 9, 2008.
  22. ↑ Vaughan, Owen (April 29, 2009). "Chris Claremont, Len Wein: the men who created Wolverine". The Times. UK. Retrieved May 12, 2009.
  23. ↑ "Interview – Hugh Jackman". CanMag. October 15, 2006. Retrieved October 15, 2006.
  24. ↑ Stax (September 28, 2007). "New Wolverine Screenwriter". IGN. Retrieved July 9, 2009.
  25. ↑ Mitchell, Elvis (May 8, 2013). UpClose: Game of Thrones with David Benioff and D.B. Weiss (FULL LENGTH). KCRW. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
  26. ↑ Rosenberg, Adam (April 5, 2010). "Kurt Cobain Biopic 'In The Works,' 16 Years After His Death". MTV News. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  27. ↑ Fleming, Mike (April 10, 2014). "'Game Of Thrones' David Benioff & D.B. Weiss Plan 'Dirty White Boys' As First Movie". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  28. ↑ "The 2003 Pulitzer Prize Winners (Criticism)". Pulitzer.org. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  29. ↑ Hibberd, James (July 19, 2017). "Game of Thrones showrunners reveal their next epic HBO series". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 19, 2017.
  30. ↑ Brenican, Anthony (February 6, 2018). "Game of Thrones creators developing new Star Wars films". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  31. ↑ Hibberd, James (September 26, 2017). "Game of Thrones season 8 directors revealed: Fan favorites return". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
  32. ↑ Messer, Lesley; Herbst, Diane (September 30, 2006). "Amanda Peet Weds Screenwriter Beau". People.com. Retrieved April 9, 2011.
  33. ↑ "Amanda Peet Welcomes a Baby Girl". people.com. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  34. 1 2 3 Saad, Nardine. "Amanda Peet, 'Game of Thrones' producer David Benioff welcome baby boy". latimes.com. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  35. ↑ "Amanda Peet Has a Girl". People Magazine. February 23, 2007. Retrieved November 4, 2007.
  36. ↑ "Amanda Peet & David Benioff Welcome Baby No. 3: Henry". celebritybabyscoop.com. 8 December 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  37. ↑ Catherine Bell, on Catherine Bell Introduces Son Ronan. "Amanda Peet Welcomes Daughter Molly June – Moms & Babies – Moms & Babies - People.com". Celebritybabies.people.com. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
  38. 1 2 3 4 "Game of Thrones". Emmys.com. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  39. ↑ "2012 Hugo Award Winners". World Science Fiction Society. September 2, 2012. Archived from the original on September 3, 2012. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  40. ↑ "2013 Hugo Award Winners". World Science Fiction Society. September 1, 2013. Archived from the original on September 23, 2013. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  41. ↑ "2014 Hugo Award Winners". World Science Fiction Society. August 17, 2014. Archived from the original on August 17, 2014. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  42. ↑ "'Big Short' takes home top prize at Producers Guild of America awards". Fox News. January 24, 2016. Archived from the original on April 6, 2016. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  43. ↑ Leffler, Rebecca (June 14, 2012). "HBO's 'Game of Thrones,' 'Game Change' Win Top Prizes at Monte Carlo TV Festival". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on June 19, 2012. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  44. ↑ "PGA Announced Theatrical Motion Picture and Long-Form Television Nominations for 2012 PGA Awards". TVLine. January 3, 2012. Archived from the original on June 19, 2012. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  45. ↑ Chitwood, Adam (November 28, 2012). "Homeland, Game of Thrones, Modern Family, and Louie Lead Television Nominations for 2013 Producers Guild Awards". Collider. Archived from the original on January 3, 2013. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  46. ↑ "TV Nominees For PGA Awards Unveiled". Deadline Hollywood. December 3, 2013. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  47. ↑ "'American Sniper,' 'Birdman' & 'Boyhood' Among PGA Awards Nominees". Deadline Hollywood. January 5, 2015. Archived from the original on January 25, 2015. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  48. ↑ DeSantis, Rachel (January 5, 2017). "People v. O.J., Stranger Things score Producers Guild Award nominations". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on January 6, 2017. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  49. ↑ Dupre, Elyse (5 January 2018). "2018 Producers Guild Award Nominations: The Full List of Film and TV Nominees". E! News. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  50. ↑ "Television in 2013". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. 2013. Archived from the original on March 8, 2015. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  51. 1 2 A. Fernandez, Jay (February 19, 2012). "Writers Guild Awards: Complete Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on June 19, 2012. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  52. ↑ "WGA Announces TV Nominations". The Hollywood Reporter. December 6, 2012. Archived from the original on December 6, 2012. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  53. ↑ Hipes, Patrick (December 4, 2014). "Writers Guild TV Nominations: 'True Detective' & 'Louie' Lead Way, Amazon Breaks Through With 'Transparent'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on February 15, 2015. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  54. 1 2 McNary, Dave (February 13, 2016). "WGA Honors 'Big Short,' 'Spotlight,' 'Mad Men' at 68th Awards". Variety. Archived from the original on May 3, 2016. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  55. 1 2 O'Connell, Michael (December 5, 2016). "WGA TV Nominations Include 'Westworld,' 'This Is Us' and 'Stranger Things'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 6, 2017. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  56. ↑ Littleton, Cynthia. "Writers Guild Award TV Nominations: 'The Americans,' 'Handmaid's Tale,' 'GLOW' Grab Multiple Mentions". Variety. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  57. ↑ "2015 Nominations". World Science Fiction Society. April 4, 2015. Archived from the original on May 25, 2015. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  58. ↑ Gartenberg, Chaim (April 4, 2017). "Here are the 2017 Hugo Award nominees". The Verge. Archived from the original on April 5, 2017. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  59. ↑ THR Staff (January 7, 2016). "USC Scripter Awards Unveils Film Nominations, Expands into TV". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 14, 2017. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  60. ↑ McNary, Dave (January 11, 2017). "'Arrival,' 'Fences,' 'Game of Thrones' Earn USC Scripter Award Nominations". Variety. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  61. ↑ "'Game of Thrones,' 'Black-ish' Top Humanitas Prize Finalists". Variety. January 11, 2018. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
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