At an Austin Film Festival panel on October 26, 2019, Game of Thrones co-creators and showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss reportedly described learning major parts of television production as they made the series. The headline claim that they had “no clue what they were doing” is a punchy paraphrase—not a verified exact quote. The clearest reported admission was Benioff’s explanation for why they wrote the episodes themselves: “Because we didn’t know better.”
What did Benioff and Weiss say at the Austin Film Festival?
BGR’s October 28, 2019 account of the panel says Benioff described making Game of Thrones as an “expensive film school” for the pair. He reportedly mentioned learning how to work with costume designers, among other production lessons. The remarks portray two writers learning aspects of a demanding television production while running it—not a claim that they had no understanding of the story or every part of the job.
Asked why they chose to write the episodes themselves, Benioff reportedly answered, “Because we didn’t know better.” BGR also reported that HBO had wanted them to hire other writers, and that they later assigned episodes to Bryan Cogman. These details come from BGR’s account of the panel, rather than an independently checked transcript or recording. Read BGR’s report of the panel.
Was “no clue what they were doing” a direct quote?
No verified exact quotation supports that broad wording. BGR used it in its headline, while contemporary WIRED coverage characterized the framing as a paraphrase of the panel’s tone. The more precise account is that the showrunners described specific inexperience and learning on the job. WIRED’s contemporary coverage discusses the panel’s aftermath and the separate news that Benioff and Weiss were stepping away from their Star Wars project.
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What did they say about adapting the books?
BGR reproduced a panel exchange in which the showrunners reportedly acknowledged that they had not grasped the full scope of the books, saying: “No. We didn’t. The scope was too big. It was about the scenes we were trying to depict and the show was about power.” The wording is BGR’s account; without an official transcript or recording to check, it should not be treated as independently verified verbatim dialogue.
That reported comment is narrower than saying they failed to understand the entire story. It describes the difficulty of translating a large book series into the scenes and themes of a television adaptation. Game of Thrones was adapted from George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels.
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How did the production team learn as the series grew?
BGR’s account also describes lessons from working with cast members and director Miguel Sapochnik, as well as keeping core crew members for later battles. It points to the time and resources required for large-scale production. Taken together, these comments support a picture of a team developing its production skills across successive seasons.
They do not, by themselves, show that inexperience caused the response to the final season. That would be a separate claim requiring evidence beyond these reported panel remarks.
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What is established—and what remains unverified?
- Event and speakers: The remarks were attributed to Benioff and Weiss at an Austin Film Festival panel on October 26, 2019.
- Reported admissions: They described learning production skills while making the series; Benioff reportedly said they wrote the episodes because they “didn’t know better.”
- Headline wording: “No clue what they were doing” is a broad editorial paraphrase, not a confirmed direct quotation.
- Verification limit: The available account is BGR’s reporting; an official transcript or recording was not located to independently confirm the quoted wording.
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