Vince Gilligan on the 8-Word Note That Inspired ‘Breaking Bad’
We’ve all heard how Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan first thought that his beloved crime drama would tell the story of how a Mr. Chips-type everyman would turn into Scarface. But during a South by Southwest Film & TV Festival panel on Saturday morning titled “Albuquerque Aftermath: From Breaking Bad to Pluribus,” Gilligan said he found a notebook which had the very first conception for the show — and it was only nine words. “I found this old notepad in my office a few years back, and it was the very first idea for this,” Gilligan said. “And who knows where ideas come from? But it said: ‘Good guy does something bad to save his family.’” Then Gilligan retold the story of how he fleshed out his idea of a high school chemistry teacher with cancer who cooks meth to provide for his family and then pitched it to Sony Pictures Television. Gilligan says a top executive, who is no longer with the company, told him, “‘That’s the single worst idea I’ve ever heard.’” Gilligan …
