Shonda Rhimes, the prolific producer that gave us “Grey’s Anatomy” and “How to Get Away with Murder”, recently signed a $100 million deal at Netflix. However, despite her exclusive content deal at the streaming company, she said that she will not leave her ABC shows hanging.
In a panel at the Television Critics Association winter press tour on Monday, Rhimes said that she is not going anywhere. Although her deal with Netflix already began, she said that she will not march off to a different network and work only on one place at a time. As she put it, she’s not going anywhere.
“It’s like saying I have five kids and I’m going to leave and go someplace else.”
In fact, she will still be serving as executive producer on “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal,” “How to Get Away With Murder,” and two new shows: “For the People” and a yet-to-be-titled “Grey’s Anatomy” spinoff. She also has other scripts in development, and will still serve as producer should any of them be approved for pilot at ABC.
Shondaland moves to Netflix
Shondaland will exit ABC Studios to move on for a multi-year deal with Netflix, but Rhimes made it clear that she will still remain involved with her current slate in ABC. In fact, she is said to pen multiple episodes for “Scandal” as the show wraps up in its final season.
ABC President Channing Dungey does not seem very concerned about losing Rhimes to a streaming service company. He mentioned that people have been asking how they are going to survive without great producers like Aaron Spelling, Steven Bochco, and J.J. Abrams – and they are asking the same about losing Shonda Rhimes. However, as Dungey noted, there is always new talent, and Rhimes’s move could give another potential great talent another opportunity to step into the limelight.
Shonda Rhimes on Grey’s spinoff
While many would love to see the return of Kate Walsh as Addison Montgomery, this seems unlikely, considering that her love interests – Patrick Dempsey’s Derek Shepherd and Eric Dane’s Mark Sloan have been long dead in the series. According to Rhimes, the 10-episode spinoff will focus instead on firefighters in Seattle.
The cast members are said to be introduced in an episode of Grey’s this season as Jason George’s Ben Warren decides to give up his medical career in order to become a firefighter. Grey’s veteran Stacy McKee will serve as showrunner to the spinoff series, alongside Paris Barclay, Rhimes herself, and Betsy Beers, a longtime Shondaland partner.
McKee mentioned that the spinoff series will exist in the same universe as the medical drama – and crossovers are to be expected in “small ways or big ways.”
