Meeting David Benioff, Co-Creator of GoT (& kind of meeting the other, DB Weiss)
- profjsherwood
- Sep 21, 2023
- 6 min read
With teaching at 2, now 3, different colleges, and single momming, I have not had the time or more accurately the ENERGY to dedicate to creating new posts for a WHILE, but in the meantime... here's a fun encounter I had in May with the GoT show-runners. :)
David Benioff and me on May 13, 2023
Many people had complaints about the last season of Game of Thrones, and I understand many of them. However, I think a lot of the complaints were just points that were missed and consequently bundled into the package of percived disappointment. Most people judge things like this--things they are attached to--in dichotomous/black and white ways. So, it makes sense that so much was overlooked because of associative disappointment. I'm not here to defend and examine this--my thesis elaborates on these areas a lot, and that is linked in this blog. But, for ONE example, #NewRockstars, which is one of the best pop-culture breakdown YouTube channels, said just this week while talking about Ahsoka (and giving a GoT metaphor) that Daenerys was going to "'break the wheel'... until she forgot about that in the end..." This is one thing that was looked over. Ending feudalism and introducing the beginnings of what will eventually be a full democracy WAS breaking the wheel. On a side note, I DO think "The Long Night" (S8 Ep 3) was one of the best GoT episodes, but also, HBO/Max needs to LIGHTEN THAT EPISODE UP!! One on-set tea light is NOT enough. Come on, #MiguelSapochnik Why do you hate us?
ANYWAY, it was no surprise, due to this controversy surrounding season 8, that when I saw GoT show-runner David Benioff walking toward me as I exited the bathroom at Ramin Djawadi's Game of Thrones concert at The Hollywood Bowl in May, 2023 (the 4th of these shows I have attended since 2018), he looked like he wanted avoid me when he saw the manic-looking recognition on my face (I can't imagine how many times he's heard "season 8" come out of peoples' mouths, followed by undeveloped thoughts and complaints), but I jumped in front of his path like a full-blow psychopath on a mission, because that's EXACTLY what I was in that moment.
I jumped and he stopped, and I said, or possibly yelled (my adrenaline makes this blurry), "WAIT! I wrote my master's thesis on Game of Thrones!" See, I wrote a thesis on the monomyth (The hero's journey), narrative rhetoric, archetypal metaphoric rhetoric and identification about Jon and Dany in 2020--our FAVORITE year. I had 4 extra copies printed to send to Emilia Clarke, Kit Harrington, David Benioff, and Dan "DB" Weiss. However, due to COVID, agencies were not receiving fan mail, so I mailed out nothing. So, running into real-life David Benioff was INCREDIBLE! He was much more interested in my hyper excited, nervous, crazy energy once I said this, but I didn't get to say much about the thesis, because David was like the NICEST guy ever. We went to college in the same county (OC), but he went overseas to Ireland at some point, which is where he met the other GoT show-runner Dan Weiss. So, he shared this and other experiences as he asked me questions about school, and I was a complete nervous wreck, but you'd never know from the way he responded. I think we talked for around 10 minutes, but it could have been much shorter or longer--I was in a totally alien state of mind. I'm surprised I didn't faint. I remember being out of breath for no physiological reason.
Right before we parted (and he was FINALLY able to go to the bathroom--I'm so sorry, David), I boldly, without reservation, asked for a photo.
*Now for context, I have met a lot of celebrities. I worked at The Improv for a year in 2015, and I met many before and after that, but I couldn't ask for photos (usually). I watched the actress and Oscar winner Monique stand for photos for 2 hours after her standup (something no other comedian did while I was there), so when I talked to her, I was intent on talking about me vividly remembering her Oscar win for Precious and NOT asking for a photo. She hugged me for so long, a co-worker joked she almost took me home with her, but that was exactly why I didn't get a photo...I couldn't bring myself to taint that interaction; I wanted to show her genuine appreciation without getting something superficial in return. I met Taran Killam in LA after seeing his Groundlings show, and I know he would've given me a picture--he was so nice, and he knew people in my town, so he asked if I knew them--very normal and personable, like David. My sisters are friends with Lucy Punch, and when she showed up at my dad's house for my sister Shamsi's baby shower, I could not ask her either. But BENIOFF???? I wrote my THESIS on GoT! I gave that thing my soul! I wrote it in one semester, which is not normal--it takes a year--and then COVID hit, and I was teaching, and taking a class, and FREAKING OUT HYPERVENTILATING and crying daily from panic and stress. I wrote 109 pages during this period and I DID IT. I finished it, and I WAS GOING TO GET A FUCKING PICTURE WITH THE SHOW-RUNNER. I EARNED that! Unless he said no, in which case, I would've been like, "Fair enough. Okay." But I wouldn't have regretted asking, because I knew it would literally haunt me often and forever if I didn't ask.
So, long story even longer than anyone thought possible, I asked and he happily accepted. When I pulled out my phone and Benioff saw his reflection in my front-facing camera, he said, "Wait! My hair is messed up." Then he fixed it, and oddly, this detail stands out a lot, because it was so human. It's so small, but that alone showed he was invested in this photo. It wasn't a charity pic. So, we took the picture you see above.
Another thing that stands out is this: David told me after I took the picture, "You know, Dan is here too! You should meet him and get a picture with him!" If there was anything that solidified my feeling of being accepted and worthy in David Benioff's eyes, it was this. However, I was losing my shit, and I asked, "where is he?" and David told me, "I don't know. He's smoking somewhere." I KNOW where the smoking section is. I fucking SMOKE. But, I was in a weird place, and I said, "oh well!" and literally sprinted uphill to show my friend and EVERYONE in the vicinity the picture I now had.
Now, here's where it gets even crazier...
I went to the bathroom ONE OTHER TIME that night. It was during "Light of the Seven," which ends in green fireworks and is followed by an intermission. I didn't know about the latter, so in the middle of this musical piece, I run to the bathroom when I should have waited a few minutes. OUT OF THE BATHROOM, jogging in a rush, is the other show-runner, DAN "DB" WEISS!!!!! My bladder has never been so intuitive. I panicked and yelled, "I talked to David and he told me you were here!!!" Inside, I hoped Dan would stop and ask, "are you the thesis girl?" But expectations are nonsense. However, he did wave enthusiastically at me and keep jogging to his seat! Honestly, that was enough, because, as I yelled a moment later after he was gone, "are you FUCKING kidding me?!" The only two times I go to the restroom.... and WHO do I see?!
I didn't talk about anything else for the next few days. Oddly, when I told my former grad advisor who chaired and helped me SO much with my thesis, she said, "I was there!" She was in the section below! I wish she could have been with me to meet David.
So, in all the excitement, it didn't even occur to me to tell Benioff, "btw, I had copies printed from the publisher specifically for you and Dan! Where can I send them to you both?" But when I left that night, I thought, oh well, I can just look up their fan mail/agency address and send them there. When I called their agency, #CAA, there was no Benioff and the only Dan Weiss they had was a sports agent, but after A LOT of searching and even paying for an IMDb PRO account to get more agent info, I know for sure CAA is their agency, but NO ONE can confirm it, which is weird. I don't want to send (admittedly overpriced) $50 copies of my thesis to this agency without assurance. I could send other cheaper copies (printed on better paper with a cover image), but these others are the originals from ProQuest, the scholarly publisher, and they were meant for David and Dan. SO, this story isn't over. I WILL get these copies to them somehow! How could I not pursue this after seeing BOTH of them?!
I will not rest.
#DavidBenioff #DBWeiss #DanWeiss I will get these copies to you, whether you want them or not.
And THAT is the end of this story... for now.
