Vince Gilligan

George Vincent Gilligan Jr. (born February 10, 1967) is an American screenwriter, producer, and director.

George Vincent Gilligan Jr. was born in Richmond, Virginia, on February 10, 1967, the son of grade school teacher Gail and insurance claims adjuster George Vincent Gilligan Sr. He was raised Catholic but would later describe himself as "pretty much agnostic".

His parents divorced in 1974.

He and his younger brother Patrick were raised in Farmville and Chesterfield County, where they attended J.P. Wynne Campus School, the laboratory school run by Longwood College where their mother also taught; Gilligan would later use the J.P. Wynne name for the fictional high school where Walter White teaches in Breaking Bad.

Growing up, Gilligan became best friends with future film editor and film title designer Angus Wall.

His interest in film began when Wall's mother Jackie, who also taught alongside Gilligan's mother at J.P. Wynne, would lend her Super 8 film cameras to him.

He used the camera to make science fiction films with Patrick.

One of his first films was entitled Space Wreck, starring Patrick in the lead role.

One year later, he won first prize for his age group in a film competition at the University of Virginia.

Jackie would take Wall and Gilligan to Richmond and drop them off at Cloverleaf Mall to see films, encouraging both of them to pursue a career in the arts.

Gilligan later said, "I wouldn't be where I am today if it weren't for Jackie. She was a wonderful lady and a real inspiration."

Gilligan was recognized for his talents and creativity at an early age.

His father described him as a "kind of a studious-type young man, and he liked to read, and he had a vivid imagination".

He introduced Gilligan to film noir classics, as well as John Wayne and Clint Eastwood Westerns on late-night television.

Gilligan won a scholarship to attend the prestigious Interlochen Center for the Arts.

After eighth grade, he moved back to Chesterfield to attend Lloyd C. Bird High School.

After graduating from Lloyd C. Bird High School in 1985, he went on to attend NYU's Tisch School of the Arts on a scholarship, receiving a BFA in film production.

While at NYU, he wrote the screenplay for Home Fries and received the Virginia Governor's Screenwriting Award in 1989 for the screenplay, which was later turned into a film.

One of the judges of the competition was film producer Mark Johnson, who was impressed by Gilligan and called him "the most imaginative writer" he had ever read.

Gilligan also studied holography under Jason Sapan at Holographic Studios in New York City.

Gilligan's big break came when he joined the Fox television drama The X-Files.

Gilligan was a fan of the show, and submitted a script to Fox which became the second-season episode "Soft Light".

He went on to write 29 more episodes, in addition to being co-executive producer of 44 episodes, executive producer of 40, co-producer of 24, and supervising producer of 20.

He also co-created and became executive producer of The X-Files spin-off series The Lone Gunmen.

The series only ran for one season of 13 episodes.

Gilligan created, wrote, directed, and produced the AMC drama series Breaking Bad.

He created the series with the premise that the hero would become the villain.

"Television is historically good at keeping its characters in a self-imposed stasis so that shows can go on for years or even decades", he said.

"When I realized this, the logical next step was to think, how can I do a show in which the fundamental drive is toward change?"

He added that his goal with Walter White was to turn him from "Mr. Chips into Scarface".

While pitching the show to studios, Gilligan was initially discouraged when he learned of the existing series Weeds and its similarities to the premise of Breaking Bad.

While his producers convinced him that the show was different enough to still be successful, he later stated that he would not have gone forward with the idea had he known about Weeds earlier.

Breaking Bad received widespread critical acclaim and has been praised by many critics as being among the greatest television dramas of all time.

Gilligan has been awarded numerous times for writing, directing, and producing the series.

Gilligan's other work includes writing, directing, and producing some episodes of the Fox science fiction series The X-Files (1993–2002) and co-creating its spin-off series The Lone Gunmen (2001), as well as co-writing the screenplay for the superhero film Hancock (2008).

He has won four Primetime Emmy Awards, six Writers Guild of America Awards, two Critics' Choice Television Awards, two Producers Guild of America Awards, a Directors Guild of America Award, and a BAFTA Television Award.

He is best known as the creator, primary writer, executive producer, and occasional director of the AMC crime drama series Breaking Bad (2008–2013) and its spin-off prequel series Better Call Saul (2015–2022).

The Writers Guild of America has awarded him four times in straight succession, from 2012 to 2014; three as a part of the Breaking Bad writing team and one individually for writing the episode "Box Cutter".

He also received two Primetime Emmys in 2013 and 2014 for producing the show.

He also wrote, directed, and produced the Breaking Bad sequel film El Camino (2019).