Business Insider sat down with Shonda Rhimes in New York City to discuss diversity in television, being a working mom and the future of her storytelling.
Shonda Rhimes has been a major force in television for over a decade.
Her first show for ABC, "Grey's Anatomy," aired in March 2005 as a mid-season replacement. It quickly became one of the most-watched (and talked about) shows on television, and starts its fourteenth season Thursday.
Rhimes went on to create "Private Practice," "Scandal," and
"How to Get Away with Murder." In August, Netflix announced an exclusive multi-year development deal with Rhimes, under which all of her future productions will be Netflix Originals.
Business Insider recently sat down with Rhimes in New York City to discuss the future of her storytelling, being a working mom, and the short film "Meet Diana," a collaboration with the soap brand Dove. "Meet Diana" tells the story of Diana Wright, a teacher and mother of two, who lost her leg in a car wreck.
In our interview, Rhimes talked about diversity a word she says she hates in television, how it's changing, and how it can continue to evolve and represent everyone in an authentic way. For this to happen, Rhimes says that diversity starts in the writers room. And although she hears people in the industry say it's hard to find women, people of color, and LGBTQ people who write for TV, it's actually not.
"It's almost like there's camouflage and they are not looking at them," she said. "I've never had a problem."
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Carrie Wittmer: Diana, [the subject of the short film] has been through so much. She lost her leg, but she's so confident and sure of herself. What did you learn from being around her?
Shonda Rhimes: She's a quiet energy. But that quiet energy is very powerful. She's very confident about who she is. And the fact that she has such presence and confidence. And you feel like she's always been that way. It was that fact that really drew me, and this idea that being that sure of herself comes from just who she's always been and then having this accident. A lot of people would've crumbled. I think I probably would have been in a corner somewhere thinking I can't do anything. It just made her more of who she was, as opposed to being a stumble or a hurdle or something.
Wittmer: I wanted to be her.
Rhimes: Right? I was like, if only I could spend more time with you, there's so much I could learn.
Wittmer: Is telling diverse stories from Diana's to your shows come naturally to you, or is that something that you're always thinking about? You have a character on "Grey's Anatomy" [Arizona Robbins, played by Jessica Capshaw] who, like Diana, has lost one of her legs in an accident.
Rhimes: I don't think I ever sought out the idea, "We're going to show a diverse group of people!" I wanted to see people on television who look like me, and I wanted to see people on television who look like my friends. And I didn't relate to a lot of the women on television because they didn't seem realistic. It was just about writing people I wanted to watch, and writing people who felt like the people I knew. That's what we ended up doing. So it's never about, "Well can we make a story about this kind of person?" Mostly, it's about the characters.
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