--- name: "Sam Catlin" canonical: "https://film.one/person/sam-catlin" fi1m_id: "sam-catlin" imdb_id: "nm1028558" tmdb_id: 1223194 wikidata_id: "Q7407299" roles: ["Writer","Producer","Director"] born: "1 January 1950" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_as: "writer" average_over: 1 updated: "2026-09-22T21:45:53.805235+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Sam Catlin ## Identity Sam Catlin - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/sam-catlin - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** sam-catlin - **IMDb ID:** nm1028558 - **TMDB ID:** 1223194 - **Wikidata ID:** Q7407299 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Catlin, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7407299, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1028558/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1223194 Writer and producer. Born 1 January 1950 in United States. ## Details - **Work:** Writer, Producer, Director - **Born:** 1 January 1950, United States - **Active:** 2008–present - **Titles on Fi1m:** 2: 1 directing, 1 writing - **Frequently works with:** [Adam Bernstein](https://film.one/person/adam-bernstein.md) - **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 91 (1), 2020s 58 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Catlin, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7407299, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1028558/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1223194 ## Streaming the US now - **Netflix:** [*Breaking Bad*](https://film.one/tv/breaking-bad.md) (91) - **Apple TV:** [*Sugar*](https://film.one/tv/sugar.md) (58) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Sam Catlin > Sam Catlin brings a writer’s discipline to television that mixes humour, drama and violence. We rate his collaborative storytelling highly, though his directing alone gives us less to judge. Walter White’s excuses are part of what makes *Breaking Bad* (2008) so hard to stop watching. Bryan Cranston makes him frightening and funny, while the writing keeps asking us to inspect his reasoning. We found that scrutiny unsettling, because the series takes his explanations seriously without asking us to accept them. This is the work through which we rate Sam Catlin most highly, though it tells us more about his place in a writing team than about an individual directing style. Catlin joined Vince Gilligan’s series as a co-producer and writer in 2009, during its second series, and became co-executive producer by the fourth. He wrote ten episodes and directed the episode *Rabid Dog*. That is a substantial contribution, but it would be careless to assign the programme’s achievements to him alone. Its cleverness can become a nuisance; the sharp examination of Walter’s self-justification is what earns our recommendation beyond the usual crime-drama audience. With *Preacher* (2016–2019), developed alongside Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, Catlin became the showrunner as well as a writer and occasional director. He carried the tightly planned, collaborative story-building process from *Breaking Bad* into a series mixing humour, drama and violence. His approach to the ensemble treated character development as a succession of coming-of-age stories, giving the plotting something personal to follow. Adapting the comic also required changes to its structure for television, rather than simply transferring its contents to the screen. These are useful priorities, although careful preparation cannot by itself guarantee that a change from comedy to violence will feel convincing. *Sugar* (2024) continues the emphasis on his work as showrunner and writer. Across these projects, the clearest reason to follow Catlin is his attention to how a continuing story gets worked out by several people. We would look first at whether the characters remain worth following, rather than mistake a complicated plot for an achievement in itself. Start with *Breaking Bad*, and allow rather more of the evening than planned. ## On Fi1m (2) ### Directed (1) - *Breaking Bad* (2008), Fi1m 91, Director, Co-Producer, Writer, Supervising Producer, Co-Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/breaking-bad.md) ### Wrote (1) — the average rests on these - *Sugar* (2024), Fi1m 58, Writer, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/sugar.md) ## Complete filmography (13) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Sugar* (2024), series, Writer, Executive Producer — Fi1m 58, [page](https://film.one/tv/sugar.md) - *Preacher* (2016), series, Story, Teleplay, Writer, Executive Producer, Director, Creator - *The Interview* (2014), as News Anchor - *Canterbury's Law* (2008), series, Writer - *Breaking Bad* (2008), series, Writer, Director, Co-Executive Producer, Co-Producer, Supervising Producer — Fi1m 91, [page](https://film.one/tv/breaking-bad.md) - *Kidnapped* (2006), series, Writer - *The Great New Wonderful* (2005), Screenplay - *White Oleander* (2002), as Teacher - *The Guardian* (2001), series, as Stu Bynum, A.D.A. Ted Morrison - *Lisa Picard Is Famous* (2000), as Michael - *The Practice* (1997), series, as Kevin Houle - *Law & Order* (1990), series, as Maitre D' — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/tv/law-and-order.md) - *Beat the Reaper*, series, Executive Producer ## Gallery - ![Sam Catlin](https://film.one/media/person/61095/gallery-2df594e300c1.jpg) Sam Catlin — Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/Sam_Catlin_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg/1280px-Sam_Catlin_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Sam Catlin](https://film.one/media/person/61095/gallery-1a9181dca907.jpg) Sam Catlin — Image via TMDB --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/sam-catlin