Breaking out with ‘Breaking Bad’ script
When acclaimed television producer Vince Gilligan handed writer and La Cañada resident George Mastras the script for a pilot called “Breaking Bad,” Mastras knew immediately he liked it. He was less sure, however, that it would ever make its way onto the silver screen.
The pilot introduced the story of a 50-something high school chemistry teacher named Walter White who is struggling with the banalities of middle class American life. Diagnosed with terminal cancer and fearful of leaving his family unprovided for, he puts his chemistry skills to use and starts dealing crystal meth — not exactly the stuff of prime time network television.
But Mastras signed on, AMC picked up the show, and two years later “Breaking Bad” is one of the most critically acclaimed programs on TV.
“I think in a lot of ways some of the shows on cable, because we can do very edgy and very different things, have really defined television,” Mastras said.
The show has won four Emmy Awards, including Best Actor in a drama series for star lead Bryan Cranston, among other accolades.
Mastras himself was recently nominated for a 2010 Edgar Allan Poe Award for a season two episode called “Grilled” in which Walter and a co-conspirator are held captive by a thug. The winner of the Edgar Award, which is given out by the Mystery Writers of America, will be announced in April.
While the writer’s life is a far cry from that of his fictional teacher-turned-drug-dealer character, Mastras has never shrunk from adventure.
A decade ago he and his wife, La Cañada native Hope Toffel Mastras, left stable jobs at prestigious law firms, sold or stored all their material possessions, and bought one-way airline tickets to China.
They spent nearly two years traveling through a dozen Asian countries, including Pakistan, India, Cambodia, Malaysia, Nepal and Tibet.
It was on that trip that Mastras launched his writing career, penning parts of what would become his debut novel, “Fidali’s Way,” about an American backpacker caught up in a murder mystery in the tribal regions of Pakistan.
When they returned to Southern California, he continued to write, eventually landing a spot in the ABC Talent Development Program, which offered him his first foray into television work.
Mastras is looking forward to the third season of “Breaking Bad,” which began on March 21. He and his colleagues regularly draw on life experiences to develop plot lines, he said, adding that his career as a defense attorney provides plenty of fodder.
A typical work day involves a half dozen writers sitting in a room throwing around ideas and debating whether a character would, or would not do, this or that.
“The writing room is a very interesting thing,” Mastras said. “It is sort of like Vegas. What happens in the writing room stays in the writing room. These people end up knowing you better than your spouse. People do open up.”
He is also busy working on two movie scripts, as well as pitching a second novel. The work load is tremendous, but don’t expect him to change the channel.
“I just feel that it is such a privilege to be able to do this as a living,” Mastras said. “I have found something that I love to do.”