Picture this: It’s a Thursday night in 2014, cable is still commonplace, and Shonda Rhimes dominates network television.
The series creator, writer and producer directed three independent television series on ABC: Grey’s Anatomy, Scandaland How to get away with it, all of which aired on Thursday nights. Its enormous success propelled ABC to brand all Thursday night programming like “Thank God It’s Thursday,” echoing the thoughts of Rhimes fans everywhere.
Although fans may fondly remember that era of television, Rhimes confessed in a recent interview with Variety who had “zero” work-life balance during that time in his career.
“That wasexhausting” she said. “It was an accomplishment. But it was exhausting. And it was great. I loved the storytelling. But I feel like it almost killed me. It was too much.”
Scandal ended in 2018 after seven seasons, while How to get away with it ended after a controversial six-season run in 2020. Grey’s Anatomy However, it’s still moving forward with season 20 now airing on ABC.
Rhimes explained that she has slowed down her creative output since leaving ABC, which has been “the best thing for my creativity.”
“I left Los Angeles, which helps a lot, because you can’t be in the office all the time if you’re not in the same state, right? I live halfway between Los Angeles and London, which also makes things easier,” she explained. “So, yeah, it’s been better. I have a lot more creative time to write and think.”
The prolific writer still has several projects to focus on, including Bridgertonwhich is entering season 3, as well as a black barbie Documentary for Netflix.
Rhimes became one of the biggest creators to migrate to Netflix after signing a nine-figure deal with the streamer in 2017, effectively leaving the network that featured her work for 15 years and changing the state of television as we know it. .
At the time, network television was weighing her down. “I felt like I was dying,” she said. The Hollywood Reporter in 2020 while reminiscing about his time at ABC. “Like he’s been pushing the same ball uphill in exactly the same way for a long time.”
In fact, Rhimes noted that she reached her breaking point with the network when she tried to get an extra all-inclusive pass to Disneyland, of which the network had already given her two. Since the passes were not interchangeable, he requested a third pass for his sister to take during a trip to Disneyland. Rhimes recalled being told “we never do this” more than once during the debacle, until an executive allegedly asked her, “Don’t you have enough?”
According to Rhimes, this interaction was enough for her to contact her lawyers to begin working out a deal with Netflix.
Since that deal was signed, Rhimes’ executive produced the Bridgerton prequel series queen charlotte, Inventing Annaand the inspiring documentary about actress Debbie Allen’s dance career, Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker. And there is still more to come.
“This is the interesting thing: I don’t worry about the future at all, which is a great sign, because I’m very happy there,” he said. Variety of its current partnership with Netflix. “We are doing the projects we want and getting the creative control we wanted to have. As long as I’m happy there, I’ll stay there.”
