[jazzy big band music] - amc. you know, people forget amc stood for american movie classics, and then suddenly they kind of figure out, you know, let s stop paying for these other movies. let s make our own content. [brooding string music] - i was called, in 2005, to come in and meet with the head of amc, because they were looking to do scripted programming for the first time. [groovy woodwind music] a manager said, oh, i have this great script set in the advertising world in new york. it s been around for eight years, and nobody s bought it. everybody s passed. - advertising is based on one thing: happiness. - don draper is a master of the universe ad executive in early 1960s manhattan, but he s actually secretly a man named dick whitman.