Vince Gilligan's Creative Evolution: From Episodic Constraints to Audience Interpretation

Key Quotes

"They call you up a couple times a week or send you an email saying this is what we're thinking of doing like what do you think about having uh behind home plate at the world series uh poster for pluribus with ray's face on it and i said what you can do that you're seriously going to do that that's friggin' awesome yeah let's do that it's been pretty great."

Vince Gilligan explains that Apple TV+ has been very collaborative and communicative regarding the promotion of his new series, Pluribus. He highlights their proactive approach to marketing, which has involved creative ideas like featuring the show's poster at the World Series. Gilligan expresses his positive experience with their efforts to publicize the show.

"I feel like back in the old days uh when I was talking to you I tended to uh uh wax on about uh about what breaking bad meant and I think I probably did that as well with uh better call saul you know saying to folks you know this is what it means I think and this this I don't think it means that and you know and I realized it was kind of probably kind of tiresome you know it's I don't think it's for me to tell people what the show means."

Vince Gilligan reflects on his past tendency to explain the meaning of his shows, Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, to audiences and critics. He now believes that it is not his role to define what his work signifies. Gilligan suggests that this approach might have been perceived as tiresome by others.

"I feel like to just figure it for myself I feel like I can't see the forest for the trees and I think it's better to let the audience tell me what it's about so to speak."

Vince Gilligan expresses his current perspective on interpreting his own work, particularly his new series Pluribus. He feels that he is too close to the project to fully understand its meaning, comparing it to being unable to "see the forest for the trees." Gilligan believes that allowing the audience to interpret the show is a more valuable approach.

"I don't think success has anything to do with happiness and I don't think I'm blowing anybody's mind here to say this I think everybody knows this innately whether they've had any success or not but it's you know by any accounting I should be the happiest person on earth I'm I'm about the luckiest person I know but I don't know maybe it just comes down to chemicals in your brain."

Vince Gilligan discusses the relationship between success and happiness, stating that he does not believe they are directly linked. Despite achieving significant success in his career, he admits to not always feeling happy, suggesting that internal biological factors might play a role. Gilligan posits that external achievements do not guarantee internal contentment.

"The big change now with streaming with the ability to uh silo these shows or have them siloed for you where you don't have to pull out your your vhs tape and program it is you can tell stories that are serialized we couldn't really do that so much in the x files that was an episodic show and uh and a great one that I'll be eternally proud of having been a part of but but you know you'd watch an episode one week and mulder or scully would have some terrible thing happen to them that you know like there was an episode one time where mulder shoots somebody dead in his apartment and there's a big blood stain on the floor and next week you know it's like it never happened there's no mention of it."

Vince Gilligan contrasts the storytelling possibilities between the episodic nature of his early work on The X-Files and the serialized narratives enabled by modern streaming platforms. He explains that the limitations of older technology, like VCRs, necessitated self-contained episodes where plot points from one week did not necessarily carry over to the next. Gilligan highlights how streaming allows for continuous, interconnected storylines.