I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume you’ve heard of Grey’s Anatomy. Scandal? How to Get Away with Murder? Any of those ringing a bell?
All of these shows are a part of ShondaLand, the storytelling company founded by Shonda Rhimes. Rhimes created Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal, and is the executive producer for How to Get Away with Murder, among other shows.
Her shows have been largely successful, winning several awards including the Writer’s Guild of American Award for Television. Grey’s Anatomy is currently tied for the most seasons run in television history, and is the longest running medical drama. Rhimes also won a Golden Globe for Outstanding Television Drama for her work on Grey’s Anatomy.
Rhimes is an uber-successful writer, producer, and creator in modern television. But how does she do it?
Mentor, motivation and personality are the keys to her success.
Rhimes’s mom earned a Ph.D. when she was young, and did this while taking care of six children. As the youngest of the family, Rhimes often read books, which is one of the reasons she loves writing now.
Though she’s gained a lot of fame from the success of her shows, Rhimes is very introverted.
That’s how she was inspired to write her memoir, Year of Yes: How to Dance it Out, Stand in the Sun, and Be Your Own Person.
“You never say yes to anything,” Rhimes’s sister Delores said to her over Thanksgiving dinner in 2014. This sparked something in Rhimes, and she decided to do something about it.
From then on, Rhimes decided she would say yes to everything for a whole year, and this experience ended up being on of the most rewarding of her career. She made countless public appearances, including a TED talk and the commencement address at her alma mater, Dartmouth. She also lost weight, became closer to her children, and earned the confidence to do the things that before would scare her into a corner.
"Once I sort of realized she was right, I was going to say yes to all the things that scared me, that made me nervous, that freaked me out, that made me think I'm going to look foolish doing it." Rhimes wrote. "Anything that took me out of my comfort zone I was going to do it, if asked to do it."
Her introversion really comes out in her creative process. She generally likes to work alone. She doesn’t take opinions of advice from people while she’s writing, she does it the way she wants.
“There's a hum that happens inside my head when I hit a certain writing rhythm, a certain speed. When laying track goes from feeling like climbing a mountain on my hands and knees to feeling like flying effortlessly through the air. Like breaking the sound barrier.” Rhimes wrote about her creative process in her memoir. “Everything inside me just shifts. I break the writing barrier. And the feeling of laying track changes, transforms, shifts from exertion into exultation.”
Her creative process is also pretty ebb and flow. She goes through periods of incubation where she contemplates her ideas detached from physically writing. But the more consistent she is in her writing, the easier it becomes.
“When you sit down to write every day, it becomes easier and easier to tap into that creative space inside your mind,” Rhimes noted in her memoir.
Rhimes could be considered a Pro C creative. Her work on her tv shows was groundbreaking not only based on viewership, but also from the representation of her cast. She featured a diverse set of characters, and cast them in multi-dimensional roles.
The women of the show also make unconventional choices, such as to not marry, to not have children and to get an abortion. And several of her characters identify in the LGBTQ community.
“I really hate the word diversity. It suggests something other. As if it is something special. Or rare. Diversity! As if there is something unusual about telling stories involving women and people of color and LGBTQ characters on TV,” Rhimes wrote in her memoir. “I have a different word: NORMALIZING. I’m normalizing TV. I am making TV look like the world looks. Women, people of color, LGBTQ people equal WAY more than 50 percent of the population. Which means it ain’t out of the ordinary. I am making the world of television look NORMAL. I am NORMALIZING television.”
Rhimes is a mix of intrinsically and extrinsically motivated when it comes to her writing. She loves to do it, but she has certain things she wants to accomplish. She wanted media to reflect what the world looks like, and to make diverse peoples a normal occurrence in television. The changes she’s made in television has served as a kind of social activism.
“The goal is that everyone should get to turn on the TV and see someone who looks like them and loves like them. And just as important, everyone should turn on the TV and see someone who doesn’t look like them and love like them. Because perhaps then they will learn from them. Perhaps then they will not isolate them. Marginalize them. Erase them. Perhaps they will even come to recognize themselves in them. Perhaps they will even learn to love them.”
Sources:
https://www.emmys.com/bios/shonda-rhimes
https://www.shondaland.com/about/a12258201/what-we-do/
https://www.npr.org/2015/11/09/455340952/for-one-year-shonda-rhimes-said-yes-to-all-the-things-that-scared-her
Year of Yes: How to Dance it Out, Stand in the Sun, and Be Your Own Person, by Shonda Rhimes
I love this post about Shonda Rhimes. Her shows are so incredible, and I have always been amazed by the creativity, but it was really cool to learn more about who she is as a creative. I did not realize that her productions are all part of her company ShondaLand. I just love that name--it is a world of her creativity! Thank you for sharing this!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post! The idea of saying yes to the things that scare you is a great commitment to make, but facing the things you fear most is always a tremendous source of growth and something I think all people should try to do on some level (if not as extreme as saying yes to everything for a whole year). I really like her comment on how her work isn't about diversifying, but normalizing. I think this is a great view point and I found it to be very insightful. I can also definitely see how/why many writers have a more independent creating process and thus are seen as more introverted.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading about Shonda Rhimes; I’ve watched her shows, but I didn’t know much about her at all. I would not have guessed that she is an introvert, so I thought the description of her writing process was really intriguing. I especially liked the insight that she feels like she’s flying when she hits a good rhythm. I also love that Rhimes is trying to normalize TV. One of my biggest interests is representation on TV and how it can benefit people to see themselves on screen, so it was awesome to read about her efforts to increase representation!
ReplyDeleteI loved reading this post so much! I am a huge fan of Grey's Anatomy and am so excited for season 17 to premiere soon! While I would consider myself an expert at knowing all things "Grey's Anatomy," I really didn't know that much about Shonda Rhimes before reading this post. I find it really interesting that she took a year to say yes to everything. I can imagine that would be very scary, but also a really eye-opening experience. It would take a lot of courage, but I feel like she really thrived from that. I mean, she has become so successful with all of the shows she's created.
ReplyDeleteI also really like the part at the end where she talks about normalizing TV instead of using the word diversity. It's amazing to see the leads of many of her shows being strong, independent women. Her shows cover many topics that are both controversial and current, and I enjoy seeing how she approaches these. I just love watching her shows and enjoyed reading this post!
When I think of the abc network and the shows I grew up watching, I always think of Shonda Rhimes first. She is an inspiration for so many reasons. I love how you mentioned her year of "yes". I think there is a beauty in taking those risks and standing firm in those decisions. It makes me think about all the times she probably said yes to a wild idea in "Grey's" and it turned out to be a hit. She challenged the norm in so many ways and I love how she focuses on normalizing, rather than diversifying. In terms of "Grey's," it never felt like she was filling a diversity quota or trying to force inclusion. It all felt very natural. The main character was a strong female surrounded by other strong females that challenged each other to be better physicians and supported one another. The cast also has a great number of people of color that have roles that go beyond the stereotypical "I made it out of the streets" story, and show a wide variety of stories that I was able to resonate with as a person of color. I think her confidence and her willingness to say "yes" makes her open to collaboration. I watched an interview where Ellen Pompeo talked about how the cast and producers have all become very comfortable challenging the writers and contributing to the plot.
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