Alton Brown stated in an interview that he got started cooking while working as a film director. He directed several music videos, commercials, and short films, but realized he was spending all of his free time eating, reading cook books, and trying new recipes.

He decided that his real calling was to be a chef and so with the support of his wife he left the film industry and enrolled in cooking school.

Once out of cooking school Alton Brown realized that there weren't any fun cooking shows on TV and that he could combine his two loves, film and cooking, and so the show Good Eats was born.