Vince Gilligan on Constructing the Unforgettable Characters of PLURIBUS
About this Spotlight
Spotlights feature conversations with high-profile film and television industry professionals who share helpful advice and insights on their career experiences and creative processes.
Join Sundance Collab for this exclusive Spotlight event with Vince Gilligan – creator, writer, director, and executive producer of the hit TV shows Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and Apple TV’s Pluribus. In his first show since leaving the world of Walter White, Gilligan explores what would happen if only 13 individuals remained after the rest of humanity became one.
In a career-defining performance, Golden Globe winner Rhea Seehorn plays Carol Sturka, a romantasy author who must save the world from happiness. Beautifully shot in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the show depicts an environment that feels simultaneously foreign and familiar. With filming locations that also included the Canary Islands and Northern Spain, Pluribus portrays the global aftermath of a mysterious virus that transformed most of the world into a hive mind.
In this live online event, Gilligan will discuss his approach to writing an imperfect hero, leading a collaborative writers’ room, capturing the loneliness of this decade, and building the cul-de-sac at the end of the world. Don’t miss this exclusive conversation about one of the most thought-provoking shows of the year!
If you would benefit from an accommodation to fully participate in this event, please complete this form, contact us at (435) 776-7790, or email us at accessibility@sundance.org to discuss your specific requests. Every effort will be made to accommodate advance requests; however, requests made within 5 days of the event may not be guaranteed.
A recording of this Spotlight will be posted to Sundance Collab's Event Recording Library two business days after the live event. All registered attendees will receive an email with a link to view the recording at no cost for two business days after it is posted. After that, on-demand access to the recording can be purchased for $10.
SpotlightTeam
Vince Gilligan
Vince Gilligan is the creator of the television drama Breaking Bad and co-creator of its prequel series, Better Call Saul. The intertwined shows were included as “TV Programs of the Year” ten times by the American Film Institute and garnered four Peabody Awards and sixteen Emmy® Awards. Both series were filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as was Pluribus, his new science fiction series starring Rhea Seehorn on Apple TV.
Gilligan was born in Richmond, Virginia and raised in Farmville (the real place, not the video game) and Chesterfield County. He received the Virginia Governor’s Screenwriting Award in 1989 — which he remembers very fondly, as it gave him his start in the business.
As a writer and producer on The X-Files, Gilligan shared Golden Globe® Awards in 1997 and 1998 for Best Drama Series. He lives in New Mexico with his longtime partner, Holly Rice.
Erica Elson
Moderator | Digital Course & Event Producer, Sundance Collab
Erica Elson is a Producer, Writer and Educator based in the mountains outside Los Angeles. Her short film, WING NIGHT, premiered at Method Fest in Los Angeles. She is the co-author of the book THE AWKWARD HUMAN SURVIVAL GUIDE and co-hosted a podcast by the same name on the 5by5 network for five years. Elson's articles have been published by HuffPost, Lifehacker, and Reader's Digest. Prior to working in education, she worked in television development and writers’ rooms such as VH1’s HINDSIGHT, where she had the chance to write for the spinoff web series PLANET SEBASTIAN.
Elson joined the Sundance Collab team in October 2021 and produces courses, Master Classes, and events in the areas of screenwriting, television writing, directing, producing, and documentary filmmaking. She has moderated conversations with Sofia Coppola, Richard Linklater, Alexander Payne, and Susannah Grant, among others.
Prior to Sundance, Elson was the Thesis Production Supervisor at the American Film Institute for five years. She oversaw several award-winning graduate thesis films, notably the 2021 BAFTA student film winner APART, TOGETHER and the 2023 Sundance Film Festival short WE WERE MEANT TO. While at AFI, Elson developed a passion for sustainable production and created the Green Film School Alliance, which includes forty schools on four continents. She holds a BA in Communication and Film Studies from Concordia University and an MFA in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute.