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George Vincent Gilligan Jr. (born February 10, 1967, in Richmond, Virginia) is an award-winning American writer, director and producer, who worked extensively on The X-Files from season 2 up until the show's original end in 2002.

Gilligan also co-created The X-Files spin-off series The Lone Gunmen, along with X-Files creator Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz and John Shiban.

The X-Files[]

Gilligan's first contribution to The X-Files began with the season two episode Soft Light, which Chris Carter had asked him to develop a script for. Shortly after the episode had been completed, Gilligan was offered a job as a permanent writer.

Gilligan would only write one episode for season three - the acclaimed Pusher - but served as a creative consultant for 14 of the 24 episodes. His contributions as part of The X-Files staff further expanded in season four, writing five episodes - including the Emmy-nominated episode Memento Mori, along with Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz - as well as co-producing all 24 episodes.

Gilligan's involvement increased further in the next two seasons, writing six episodes and serving as Supervising Producer for all 20 episodes of season five. Gilligan then wrote seven episodes, and served as Co-Executive Producer for all 22 episodes of season six.

Season seven would present Gilligan with his X-Files directorial debut, Je Souhaite, which he also wrote and served as Co-Executive Producer for. Vince wrote five other season seven episodes, as well as co-executive producing all 22 episodes.

The last two seasons of The X-Files provided Gilligan the role of Executive Producer overseeing every episode in season eight and season nine. Gilligan wrote 4 episodes between seasons eight and nine, and also directed the penultimate episode of The X-Files: Sunshine Days.

In 2001, Vince Gilligan co-created The Lone Gunmen with Chris Carter, John Shiban and Frank Spotnitz, an X-Files spin-off series focused on the popular government conspiracy theorist trio of the same name. Due to low ratings however, the series was cancelled after thirteen episodes.

Career[]

Vince Gilligan received a B.F.A. in film production from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. In 1989, he received the Governor's Screenwriting Award in Virginia for his screenplay Home Fries.

Gilligan found great success in 2008 as the creator and showrunner of the critically acclaimed Breaking Bad, a series which featured a mixture of drama and humor similar to some of his episodes of The X-Files. Gilligan made several references to The X-Files throughout Breaking Bad's five season run. In 2015, Gilligan co-created and served as Executive Procucer for Better Call Saul, a Breaking Bad spin off based on the lawyer Saul Goodman.

Trivia[]

  • Gilligan often likes to include "in-joke" references to his girlfriend, Holly Rice, in his scripts. For example, an FBI employee who kicks Assistant Director Walter Skinner in the episode "Pusher" is named Holly.
  • In the second movie of X-Files franchise, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, the name "Gilligan" can clearly be seen on Mulder's cell phone as he scrolls through its phone book for Scully's name, moments before Mulder becomes distracted by doing so and consequently crashes the car he is driving.

Credits[]

The X-Files[]

Episode Credit
Season 2
Writer
Season 3
Writer/Creative Consultant
Creative Consultant
Season 4
Writer/Co-Producer
Co-Producer
Season 5
Writer/Supervising producer
Supervising producer
Season 6
Writer/Co-Executive Producer
Co-Executive Producer
Season 7
Director/Writer/Co-Executive Producer
Writer/Co-Executive Producer
Co-Executive Producer
Season 8
Writer/Executive Producer
Executive Producer
Season 9
Director/Writer/Executive Producer
Writer/Executive Producer
Executive Producer

The Lone Gunmen[]

Episode Credit
Season 1
Writer/Executive Producer
Executive Producer

External links[]

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