Peter Gould is an American television writer, director and producer. He worked on all five seasons of the
AMC
AMC may refer to:
Film and television
* AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain
* AMC Networks, an American entertainment company
** AMC (TV channel)
** AMC+, streaming service
** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company
*** ...
drama ''
Breaking Bad
''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Bryan Cranston), an underpaid, overqualified, and dispirited hig ...
''. He was nominated for four
Writers Guild of America (WGA) Awards for his work on the series. After ''Breaking Bad'' ended, he went on to become the co-creator and co-showrunner, with ''Breaking Bad'' creator
Vince Gilligan
George Vincent Gilligan Jr. (born February 10, 1967) is an American writer, producer, and director. He is known for his television work, specifically as creator, head writer, executive producer, and director of AMC's '' Breaking Bad'' (2008– ...
, of the show's spinoff, ''
Better Call Saul
''Better Call Saul'' is an American crime and legal drama television series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. Part of the ''Breaking Bad'' franchise, it is a spin-off of Gilligan's previous series, ''Breaking Bad'', and serves as a ...
''. He became the series' sole showrunner after Gilligan left the writers room.
Education
Gould is a native of
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. His parents were both artists and met at art school. Speaking of his education, he admits "I was a bad speller. I had terrible handwriting. Doing papers in school was agonizing for me." He graduated from
Sarah Lawrence College
Sarah Lawrence College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York. The college models its approach to education after the Supervision system, Oxford/Cambridge system of one-on-one student-faculty tutorials. Sara ...
in 1982 with a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
degree in English. In 1990, he graduated from the
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...
with a
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.)
is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...
.
Career
After graduating from college, he did commercials in New York for a while before entering USC Film School.
In 2008, he joined the writing staff of the
first season of ''
Breaking Bad
''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Bryan Cranston), an underpaid, overqualified, and dispirited hig ...
'' as a story editor. He wrote the first-season episode "
A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal
"A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal" is the seventh and final episode of the Breaking Bad (season 1), first season of the American television drama series ''Breaking Bad''. Written by Peter Gould and directed by Tim Hunter (director), Tim Hunter, it aired ...
".
The first season writing staff was nominated for the
Writers Guild of America (WGA) Award for best new series at the
February 2009 ceremony.
Gould was promoted to executive story editor for the
second season. He wrote the second-season episodes "
Bit by a Dead Bee
"Bit by a Dead Bee" is the third episode of the second season of the American television crime drama series '' Breaking Bad''. It was written by Peter Gould and directed by Terry McDonough.
Plot summary
Having gotten away from Tuco Salamanca, ...
"
and "
Better Call Saul
''Better Call Saul'' is an American crime and legal drama television series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. Part of the ''Breaking Bad'' franchise, it is a spin-off of Gilligan's previous series, ''Breaking Bad'', and serves as a ...
".
The writing staff was nominated for the WGA award for best drama series at the
February 2010 ceremony for their work on the second season.
Gould was promoted to producer for the
third season and wrote the episode "
Caballo sin Nombre
"Caballo sin Nombre" (Spanish for ''"Horse Without a Name"'') is the second episode of the third season of the American television crime drama series ''Breaking Bad'', and the 22nd overall episode of the series. Written by Peter Gould and direct ...
"
and co-wrote the episode "
Kafkaesque
Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typi ...
" with fellow producer
George Mastras
George Mastras, Jr. (born April 10, 1966) is a Greek American author, screenwriter, director, and television producer. He has worked on all five seasons of the AMC drama ''Breaking Bad''. He won the Pen USA Literary Award in 2009, won a Primeti ...
.
Gould was promoted again to supervising producer for the fourth season in 2011.
In 2011, he wrote the HBO television film ''
Too Big to Fail
"Too big to fail" (TBTF) and "too big to jail" is a theory in banking and finance that asserts that certain corporations, particularly financial institutions, are so large and so interconnected that their failure would be disastrous to the great ...
'' based on
Andrew Ross Sorkin
Andrew Ross Sorkin (born February 19, 1977) is an American journalist and author. He is a financial columnist for ''The New York Times'' and a co-anchor of CNBC's ''Squawk Box.'' He is also the founder and editor of DealBook, a financial news s ...
's book of the same name chronicling the events of the 2008 financial crisis and the collapse of Lehman Brothers from the point of view of Wall Street CEOs and US government regulators.
With Gilligan, he became co-creator and co-showrunner of the spinoff series, ''
Better Call Saul
''Better Call Saul'' is an American crime and legal drama television series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. Part of the ''Breaking Bad'' franchise, it is a spin-off of Gilligan's previous series, ''Breaking Bad'', and serves as a ...
''. The show debuted on February 8, 2015, and was the highest-rated cable television series premiere to date.
Gould would become the series sole showrunner after Gilligan left the writing staff early in the third season to focus on other projects. This transition had been planned since the show's debut.
The episode "
Uno" from the first season of ''Better Call Saul'' won the
2015 Writers Guild of America award for
Best Dramatic Episode in February 2016. The episode was written by Gould and Gilligan.
In 2018, ''
Better Call Saul
''Better Call Saul'' is an American crime and legal drama television series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. Part of the ''Breaking Bad'' franchise, it is a spin-off of Gilligan's previous series, ''Breaking Bad'', and serves as a ...
'' was honored with a
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...
for "developing its own unique tone mixing legal drama, crime thriller, and dark comedy."
Filmography
Screenplays
Writer
Production staff
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gould, Peter
American television writers
American male television writers
American television producers
American television directors
Sarah Lawrence College alumni
USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people