More than a decade before he created one of the most heralded television series of all time in Breaking Bad, Vince Gilligan cut his teeth as a writer, director, and executive producer on The X-Files. With Pluribus—now nominated for 18 Emmy Awards—Gilligan is returning to his roots in weird science fiction and paranormal thrillers in a show that asks, “What if one of the last real people on Earth was a bit of a train wreck?”
Camera Operator had the chance to sit down with series A camera operator Matt Credle, SOC; now a veteran of Vince Gilligan’s Albuquerque-based productions, to talk about the visual language of this show that emphasizes its characters’ isolation, as well as location shooting and working with background talent that are all effectively portraying a single character.
Carol Sturka is the author of a hit series of fantasy romance novels that she despises. Her ambitions of being a “real” writer and penning a great work of literature have given way to churning out lowbrow slop, while she drowns her feelings of self-loathing in liquor. Fittingly, it is at a bar where Carol notices planes flying overhead, spraying a chemical containing a mysterious RNA sequence broadcast to Earth from a far distant planet. As the fellow patrons of the bar start to seize before reawakening as part of a new global hive mind, Carol is faced with the fact that she may be the last hope to save humanity. Pluribus is created by Vince Gilligan, and stars Rhea Seehorn, Karolina Wydra, and Carlos-Manuel Vesga.
