The story of the making of Breaking Bad, or more particularly of convincing anyone to make it, is a fascinating tale in itself.

Gilligan was stared at bemusedly in pitch meetings, rejected multiple times, then in a cruel twist accepted, only to be told unfortunately the show would not go ahead. Finally, in a moment of graciousness rare in television, one network allowed another to proceed with the project.

It’s a tough game, TV drama, even when you are pitching what some are now calling ''the greatest television show of all time''. So you can’t just look back at the winners and declare them obvious champions. To get great stories you must cast the net wide and get at least the occasional, or perhaps frequent, tepid tales.

The cost of making drama may not be up there in terms of budget priorities but it should be up there in terms of cultural priorities. Whether it's made by commercial TV, the ABC, Screen Australia or some hybrid, an hour of locally produced drama will get you back significant change from a million dollars. That's less than 1 per cent of the price of a new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet. We are spending a total of $12,000,000,000 on such jets which will almost certainly never fire a shot in anger – unless of course the Australia Network starts broadcasting Real Housewives of Melbourne direct into Beijing, and then who would be surprised.

The cost of making drama and the size of our population are such that commercial TV imperatives will almost always drive content towards the middle of the road. If people are to take risks and not just plough headlong into reality television or endlessly rehashing any hit drama that has had success (anyone for Underbelly 48?), it will require bravery and the ability to operate without undue fear of failure.