Before Bad was Broken

My novel, Rattlesnake Lawyer almost became Breaking Bad before there was a Breaking Bad. The novel broke so bad that it never made it on the air. Twice. You could say that Breaking Bad was almost the next Rattlesnake Lawyer.

While Rattlesnake Lawyer was a legal show, its premise was that an innocent was thrust into the world of New Mexico crime and catches a bad case of felon envy. He realizes that it can be good to be bad, in fact bad might be better than good. Unlike Saul Goodman, the hero tries to be on a good man in a bad world. My subsequent novels all followed the same theme.

Way before Walt and Jessie, I was living in New Mexico and working on the book. In the nineties, Rattlesnake Lawyer was optioned by Viacom before it was even published. I made some real money as producers tried to shop it around for four years. A famous writer even wrote a sixty page script based on my work. At one time, I was about to be published by a major publisher and a show on Fox, but  I honestly don't know if the book wasn't published because the TV deal fell through or the TV deal fell through because the novel wasn't  picked up. Needless to say, by the end of the nineties Rattlesnake Lawyer didn't rattle so much.

I actually had a job in Hollywood writing a show called Arrest and Trial, but that's another story.

I had another chance to break good a few years ago. A famous show runner read the book and wanted to turn it into a series for reals. I did another round of the Hollywood shuffle, and sold the book in the room. Unfortunately, the producer had a falling out with the publisher and he didn't want to call it Rattlesnake Lawyer. Not even!

Still, despite that the show that wasn't Rattlesnake Lawyer, it was still the basic story of an innocent lawyer stuck in New Mexico. This took place before tax breaks however.

Right before we could sign a deal with the networks, there was a writer's strike and the project went into turnaround. The option expired and I was out of Hollywood for good. You could write a book about my latest adventures. Oh wait, I already did.

I am now ready for my next close-up Mr. DeMille.  The tax breaks are back. My books are doing well, and even the New York Times is writing about Albuquerque. I'm quite content to have Rattlesnake Lawyer be the next Breaking Bad, even if it should have been the other way around.