Breaking Bad Would Have Been Very Different Without The 2007 Writers’ Strike – Not In A Good Way

The Writers Guild of America strike in 2007 saved Breaking Bad from making some huge mistakes with the story of Walter White (Bryan Cranston). The 2007 WGA strike lasted for 100 days, and current estimates suggest that the 2023 strike could last just as long, if not longer. One of the WGA’s demands is that writers get better royalty payments from streaming services like Netflix. The streaming service was key to Breaking Bad‘s success outside of America, and desire to see Vince Gilligan’s seminal crime drama drove a lot of Netflix’s early subscriptions. It’s fair to say that without writers like Gilligan, Netflix simply wouldn’t have built their huge customer base. However, during the first WGA strike, Breaking Bad had only just begun its journey to attaining legendary status.