‘Breaking Bad’ Creator Gilligan in Deal for CBS Show, ‘Battle Creek’
By BILL CARTER
Published: September 25, 2013
Vince Gilligan, the creator and producer of one of the most-talked-about series in recent years, “Breaking Bad,” is the hottest name in television. “Breaking Bad” is fresh off an Emmy win for best drama and drawing huge audiences as it builds toward the final episode of its five-season run on AMC on Sunday.
Chris Pizzello/Invision, via Associated Press
Vince Gilligan, the creator of “Breaking Bad,” with its star, Bryan Cranston, right, and other show members on Sunday at the Emmy Awards, where it was named the best drama series.
Now Mr. Gilligan has concluded a deal that will bring another series he created to the more lucrative side of the business, broadcast TV.
Sony Pictures Television, the studio that has an exclusive contract with Mr. Gilligan, announced on Wednesday that it had concluded a rich deal with CBS to produce a new series created by Mr. Gilligan, with a guarantee that it will go onto the network’s prime-time schedule next fall.
The show, a police drama called “Battle Creek,” comes with an added layer of elite television pedigree. Based on Mr. Gilligan’s script, which he originally wrote for CBS 10 years ago, before he created “Breaking Bad,” the show’s production will be led by David Shore, another celebrated television producer, who created and produced the longtime Fox hit drama “House.”
The deal reflects the status Mr. Gilligan has reached, largely on the strength of the success of “Bad.”
CBS has promised to produce 13 episodes and put them all on the air. Most show deals begin with a script payment, and the next stage is limited to the making of a pilot. In this case, CBS has committed to paying for all 13 episodes before they are even produced.
Neither Sony nor CBS would reveal the specific financial terms of the deal, though Zack Van Amburg, the president of programming for Sony, said CBS would pay “a premium license fee.” Based on the typical costs of a pilot and an additional 12 episodes for an expensive, hourlong drama with top-tier producers attached, it is probably worth $35 million to $45 million.
“In the Hollywood development community, Vince is the hottest name in the business,” Mr. Van Amburg said. “If I went somewhere with the phone book with Vince’s name on it, I could sell it.”
Mr. Van Amburg credited Nina Tassler, the president of CBS Entertainment, with pushing for “Battle Creek.” Ms. Tassler visited the Sony studio in mid-August, bearing two bottles of cheap wine (the best she could find in the neighborhood). In the midst of discussions about prospective shows, she brought up the “Battle Creek” script she had worked on when she was head of CBS drama a decade ago. (It was a “cast-contingent” deal, and a suitable cast could not be found.)
“If Vince would rewrite it, and direct it, I would give you a pilot order,” Ms. Tassler told Mr. Van Amburg.
At the time, Mr. Gilligan was then entirely consumed with finishing off “Breaking Bad,” so the studio held off bringing up the “Battle Creek” offer until a short time later, when Mr. Van Amburg and his Sony partner, Jamie Erlicht, traveled with Mr. Gilligan to the Edinburgh television festival. “After a couple of pints in a pub from the 1700s,” Mr. Van Amburg said, they broached the idea of resurrecting the series.
They told Mr. Gilligan they had a great show-runner, Mr. Shore, under contract, and suggested the two of them could team up on “Battle Creek.” Mr. Gilligan liked the idea.
Mr. Van Amburg said Sony pitched the pair to CBS as if they were “the equivalent of the Dream Team.” Sony was demanding that CBS commit to more than the conventional pilot, citing the fact that other content outlets — Netflix was mentioned — would most likely offer a deal for a full season to secure a team like Mr. Gilligan and Mr. Shore. CBS agreed to the terms, which were completed on Wednesday.
For now, Mr. Van Amburg said, the intention is for Mr. Gilligan to direct the initial episode of the show.
“Battle Creek” is a drama about two detectives in Battle Creek, Mich. One is a trusting naïf, the other a cynic who relies on guile and deception. They find themselves in competition with an F.B.I. agent whom they see as the epitome of a crime-fighter, though he is far from that.
Mr. Gilligan’s reputation has soared in recent weeks, as “Breaking Bad” hurtles toward its finale, accompanied by critical praise and obsessive devotion on social media. The show won the Emmy Award for Best Drama last Sunday. “Breaking Bad” has repeatedly broken its own record for ratings over the final run of eight episodes. But its high of 6.6 million viewers last week does not approach the level of viewers a hit network series can reach. “NCIS” on CBS routinely attracts 20 million viewers.
The commitment for “Battle Creek” is the second full-series deal Sony and Mr. Gilligan have signed this month. AMC concluded a deal with him and one of his “Breaking Bad” writers, Peter Gould, for a spinoff series called “Better Call Saul,” based on the corrupt lawyer character Saul Goodman, created for “Breaking Bad.”
