Summary
Vince Gilligan is often commended for being the mastermind of one of the greatest TV shows of all time,Breaking Bad.However, it wasn’t always tranquil behind the scenes. Season 1 writer Patty Lin detailed her difficult experience working with Gilligan during the show’s first season.
Lin alleged that Gilligan’s behavior aggravated and humiliated her, even though she acknowledges that said behavior was not intended to be that way. Though she humanized Gilligan’s alleged actions, she also clarified that what theBreaking Badcreator did was not excusable in her eyes.
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Lin summed up her time working with Gilligan onBreaking BadforYahoo Entertainment. “My experience with Vince left me feeling very frustrated and, at times, humiliated,” Lin said. “I don’t think he intended to make me feel that way, but just because somebody doesn’t intend to hurt you, it doesn’t mean that’s OK.” Lin also said her experience may not have been the norm, but it was bad enough for her to quit for good. “I’m sure there are people out there with very different experiences, even the other writers from that same season,” Lin said. “All I can speak to is what I went through and how it affected me and my desire to keep doing this job. At that point, I was already feeling disillusioned and wanted to quit, and that show was kind of my last-ditch effort to see if this could still be satisfying.”
In her book, Lin alleged that Gilligan was never abusive, but his procrastination made it hard for her, and that led to an incident behind the scenes in which she was chewed out for something he did. According to her, she was punished for a last-minute revision that he made to one oftheBreaking Badscriptswithout anyone knowing. According to Lin, “Vince was sending a message that I didn’t matter” and that “he made me look like an idiot in front of everyone,” as she wrote in her upcoming book.
In her upcoming book “End Credits,” Lin alleged that she had multiple bad experiences working on popular and well-received shows such asFriends,NBC’sFreaks and Geeks,Desperate Housewives,andBreaking Bad. Lin decided to quit following her bad experience writing onBreaking Bad. She added that she has no intention of going back to that career. “At this point, I can’t see myself wanting to return to screenwriting,” Lin said. “I’ve learned to never say never, but clearly, things have not gotten much better in the industry since I left, so I would not go back expecting it to be any better than what I had already experienced.”
Lin’sexperiences onBreaking Badare heartbreaking, especially for those who want to get their break in Hollywood screenwriting. It demonstrates that while one can achieve their dreams, that doesn’t automatically make them happy no matter what they do. From what Lin makes it sound like, she tried multiple times to make it as a writer, but each time, it only made her miserable. Her story may be the exception, not the norm, but it is a cautionary tale.
