Gilligan's World

This is pretty long -- an hour-and-a-half, in fact -- but I suspect that for maniacal fans of Breaking Bad, nothing is too long if it's with their God Hero, Vince Gilligan.  Then again, even you've never seen that show, this is a pretty interesting, enjoyable interview with a wonderful writer about his career and craft.

The Writers Guild of America has a series of programs organized by the Writers Education Committee, the chairman of which is my pal Jeff Melvoin who I gather with each week during the football season to watch the Chicago Bears.  But I digress.  Anyway, for this event, Gilligan -- the creator of Breaking Bad -- talks about a wide range of topics, including Walter White.  It all begins with a wonderful tale of how he got started, on The X-Files.  But in telling it, you learn one of the best lessons for interviewing for a job -- if you don't care whether or not you get hired, there's a good chance you won't be stressed.  And Gilligan, as you'll hear, not only had no expectation of being hire, he wasn't even there trying to get a job.  You'll hear a lot more, too.  And not to worry, you won't wait until the end, he gets to Breaking Bad about 23 minutes in.

The interviewer is Guild member Chuck Rose.