Shonda Rhimes reveals why she parted ways with ABC in 2017 after writing and producing hit TV series on the network for 15 years.
Rhimes’ hit shows include Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away With Murder.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Rhimes said she decided to leave ABC in 2017 and go over to Netflix because she was tired of the disrespect.
According to THR, Rhimes and network bosses clashed over budget issues, content, and, in 2016, an ad for then-presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
“I felt like I was dying,” Rhimes told THR, “Like I’d been pushing the same ball up the same hill in the exact same way for a really long time.”
Rhimes, 50, recalled an incident that left her disillusioned with ABC.
The showrunner had been given an all-inclusive pass to the theme park as part of her deal with the network, and when she asked for an extra pass for her sister and her daughter, Harper (pictured), an ABC executive allegedly asked her, “Don’t you have enough?”
Rhimes made her decision to leave ABC and join her pals, Barack and Michelle Obama at Netflix.
She shared her concerns with Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos over breakfast in 2016.
“I said, ‘I just want to be in a place where I can make stuff and no one’s going to bother me or make me feel like I’m beholden, and he was like, ‘That sounds great to me.'”
But Rhimes said the grass wasn’t much greener on the other side.
She said she experienced a “real culture shock” at Netflix, having to get comfortable with large crowds of people in her meetings.
“50 people, if you’re as introverted as I am, is terrifying,” she said.
