<P> Before being approached by Benioff and Weiss, Martin had had other meetings with other scriptwriters, most of them wanting to turn it into a feature film . Martin however deemed it "unfilmable" and impossible to be done as a feature film, stating that the size of one of his novels is as long as The Lord of the Rings, which had been adapted as three feature films . Similarly, Benioff also said that it would be impossible to turn the novels into a feature film as the scale of the novels is too big for a feature film and dozens of characters would have to be discarded . Benioff added, "a fantasy movie of this scope, financed by a major studio, would almost certainly need a PG - 13 rating . That means no sex, no blood, no profanity . Fuck that ." Martin himself was pleased with the suggestion that they adapt it as an HBO series, saying that he "never imagined it anywhere else". "I knew it couldn't be done as a network television series . It's too adult . The level of sex and violence would never have gone through ." </P> <P> The series began development in January 2007 . HBO acquired the TV rights to the novels, with Benioff and Weiss as its executive producers, and Martin as a co-executive producer . The intention was for each novel to yield a season's worth of episodes . Initially, Martin would write one episode per season while Benioff and Weiss would write the rest of the episodes . Jane Espenson and Bryan Cogman were later added to write one episode apiece the first season . </P> <P> The first and second drafts of the pilot script by Benioff and Weiss were submitted in August 2007 and June 2008, respectively . Although HBO liked both drafts, a pilot was not ordered until November 2008; the 2007--2008 Writers Guild of America strike may have delayed the process . The pilot episode, "Winter Is Coming", was first shot in 2009; after a poor reception in a private viewing, HBO demanded an extensive re-shoot (about 90 percent of the episode, with cast and directorial changes). </P> <P> The pilot reportedly cost HBO $5--10 million to produce, while the first season's budget was estimated at $50--60 million . In the second season, the show received a 15 - percent budget increase for the climactic battle in "Blackwater" (which had an $8 million budget). Between 2012 and 2015, the average budget per episode increased from $6 million to "at least" $8 million . The sixth - season budget was over $10 million per episode, for a season total of over $100 million and a series record . </P>

When did they start filming game of thrones