Gordon Smith is an American television screenwriter, best known for his work on ''
Breaking Bad
''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan for AMC (TV channel), AMC. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Breaking Bad), Walter White (Bryan Cran ...
'' and ''
Better Call Saul
''Better Call Saul'' is an American legal crime drama television series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould for AMC. Part of the ''Breaking Bad'' franchise, it is a spin-off of Gilligan's previous series, ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–201 ...
''. Smith has been nominated for four individual
Primetime Emmys for
Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series, and won the
Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Episodic Drama in 2018 for the episode "
Chicanery", and has received several other nominations.
Career
Smith started as an office
production assistant
A production assistant, also known as a PA, is a member of the film crew and is a job title used in filmmaking and television for a person responsible for various aspects of a production. The job of a PA can vary greatly depending on the budget ...
for
season 3 of ''Breaking Bad'', then became
Vince Gilligan's assistant in
season 4, and the
writers' assistant in
season 5.
Smith co-wrote the ''Breaking Bad'' mini-featurette titled ''Chicks 'N' Guns'' which was released on the fifth season
Blu-ray
Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
.
Smith was then hired as a
staff writer for the ''Breaking Bad'' spinoff ''Better Call Saul''.
His first television script, for the episode "
Five-O" (from
season 1) earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for
Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series.
He also wrote episode 8 from the first season, titled "
RICO
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization.
RICO was ...
". For the
second season of ''Better Call Saul'', Smith was promoted to
story editor and wrote two episodes, "
Gloves Off" and "
Inflatable". In the
third season, he was promoted to a
producer, and wrote another two episodes, "
Chicanery" and "
Fall". The episode "Chicanery" earned Smith his second Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series.
In April 2017, Smith signed with
Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production company, production and broadcast syndication, distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, California, it is a division o ...
, where he served as a consulting producer for the
WGN America television series ''
Outsiders'' and was confirmed to return to ''Better Call Saul'' for its
fourth season.
For season 4, Smith was promoted to supervising producer and wrote two episodes, "
Something Beautiful" and "
Coushatta". For the fifth season, Smith was promoted co-executive producer and wrote two episodes, "
Namaste
''Namaste'' (, Devanagari: नमस्ते), sometimes called ''namaskār'' and ''namaskāram'', is a customary Hindu manner of respectfully greeting and honouring a person or group, used at any time of day. It is used worldwide among the ...
" and "
Bagman".
Smith also made his directorial debut with the episode "Namaste".
For the sixth and final season, Smith continued as a co-executive producer and wrote the third ("
Rock and Hard Place") and eighth ("
Point and Shoot") episodes while also directing the former episode.
Accolades
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Gordon
Living people
American male television writers
American television writers
Year of birth missing (living people)
Writers Guild of America Award winners