Insight
In television the writer fires the director, unlike in feature films
“In film, we always say the director fires the writer, and in television, the writer fires the director. Like, and that's always been the way it's been.”
Insight
Streaming platforms require driving subscriptions rather than capturing scheduled viewers
“Like, the idea for Netflix is, my job is to make shows that make people want to Subscribe to Netflix, which is very different than keeping people watching, you know what I mean, it's just different bringing people to the show for a specific hour of time.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Netflix's directive to Shonda Rhimes is to make whatever makes her happy
“I can tell you exactly in specific terms what they ask from us, which is make whatever makes you happy, which has been fantastic.”
Opinion
Shonda Rhimes prioritizes creative output over elite pedigree when hiring talent
“For me, it's not about, you know, pedigree or any of that. It's about output.”
Insight
Maintaining a personal creative life directly fuels professional creative performance
“I also like people who know how to have a life outside, because the more creative you can be on the outside, the more you bring to the inside.”
Insight
Promoting internal talent yields better showrunners and uncovers hidden creative talent
“I like to raise the people who are going to be our next group of writers, mainly because they already know how to do everything, but also because there's so many interesting people who come through who are the next great purveyors of ideas who sometimes get ov…”
Assertion Supported
Shonda Rhimes says every show she has created reached 100 episodes
“Like, I've never created a show that hasn't gone less than a hundred episodes, you know, so I'm very hard on myself.”
Insight
Television creators know if a show will survive by episode ten
“Around episode 10. For shows I make, for shows we make with other people, around episode 10 I become sure. Whether or not it's gonna survive, really. Whether or not it has an engine that can keep going.”
Insight
Network television testing measures subjective opinion, unlike Netflix's behavioral streaming data
“But it's never been a thing that I've really paid attention to in a real way in network television because testing in network television is really about opinion. I'm very excited about it at a place like Netflix because that, the data is very different than te…”
Insight
Viewers who claim to hate television characters will continue watching anyway
“People say they hate somebody and they love to hate them. They're gonna keep watching. It doesn't matter.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Quality character-driven storytelling shifted from film to television around 2003
“It literally was at 2003 or four when I sat down and said, oh, all the good character driven stuff can be made on television.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Shonda Rhimes ended Scandal because real-world Washington politics became too crazy
“And then at a certain point we thought we can't surpass what's happening in Washington. Like there was a moment when I just thought, I don't even know how to surpass what's happening in Washington. We did our inauguration and it just felt like what's happening…”
Assertion Supported
Shonda Rhimes says Scandal helped pioneer the practice of live-tweeting television
“Scandal really helped change how people use TV shows to do what they do. Like, we were part of the start of, you know, live tweeting shows.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Live-tweeting temporarily brought back real-time appointment viewing for network television
“One of the things that was great for us was because the live tweeting was so important and because it meant that if you missed it, you missed the conversation, we sort of brought back watching a show in real time. So it worked great for network television for …”
Opinion
Binge watching works without requiring simultaneous water-cooler moments across an audience
“So I think that binging, no matter what, still works. And I don't think you have to have your water cooler moments all at once.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Netflix does not evaluate Shonda Rhimes's show pitches using subscriber projections
“We don't have to ask those questions. Like, that's not a thing that happens. It's more about, are you excited about this?”
Insight
Streaming shows often suffer from slow pacing, unlike Shondaland's fast-paced productions
“A lot of streaming shows get really slow because they know they can, because they know you're streaming them. I don't think that's for me, in terms of the way I write things. I enjoy watching them, but I don't think it's for me. So we're still moving at a pace…”
Disclosure
Shondaland created a Netflix-backed incubator to retain writers long-term
“We've really created, we were able to create a model in the beginning when we first got there to find a way to hold on to a series of our writers and to make it sort of a creative home for people to stay versus you know, you have to go away and take a deal her…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Bob Iger specifically requested a medical drama for ABC, says Shonda Rhimes
“Yeah, literally what does Bob Iger want, and they said he really wants a medical show, and I thought, okay.”
Insight
Failing to delegate when scaling projects quickly flattens creative leaders
“You have to, you cannot do a job like that if you don't trust the people around you. Otherwise, you're gonna be trying to do everything, and that's gonna flatten you very quickly.”
Assertion Supported
Bridgerton creator Chris Van Dusen started as Shonda Rhimes's assistant
“So, the show we're doing right now called Bridgerton, which is being made by Chris Van Dusen. Chris was my assistant on Grey's Anatomy.”
Insight
Showrunning means going from writing in pajamas to managing 350 people
“It's, you go from being a writer who's writing at home in your pajamas to having 350 people working for you.”
Disclosure
Forty-five minute episodes remain Shonda Rhimes's creative sweet spot on streaming
“I know that for me, Writing something that's about 60 pages long, which is about 45 minutes long on television, feels right. It's what I know how to do. And it feels good to me. I have not reached a point now where I'm thinking, like, I need to write something…”
Assertion Supported
Shonda Rhimes created Grey's Anatomy without any television staff writer experience
“You know, for a lot of people, it's They started as a staff writer, and they worked their way up, they worked their way through the business, and then they get their own show. I thought I'd been writing movies, and I thought I'd like to write a television show…”
Shonda Rhimes