Interview (Written): Shonda Rhimes

A Q&A with powerhouse TV showrunner of 4 series on ABC.

Grey’s Anatomy. Scandal. Private Practice. How to Get Away With Murder. The Catch. All TV series exec produced by Shonda Rhimes. Here is a Fast Company interview with this prolific writer-producer.

So how do you delegate?

I mean, part of that is not being there. But the other part of my growth is, in order to do all of these shows, Betsy [Beers, my producing partner] and I had to allow people to rise over the years. Sometimes people don’t want to be empowered because they are afraid of being the person to make the decisions. I am lucky that I have people who’ve worked with me for 10 years or more, [who’ve learned] that they could trust themselves to be the decision maker. 
 
 So, not being the definitive “yes” person also means that I do not answer phone calls or emails after 7 p.m. I do not work on the weekends, which I have to tell you is incredibly difficult. I mean, I write, I just don’t answer phone calls or emails. My email signature says, “I do not answer calls or emails after 7 p.m. or on weekends, and if you work for me, may I suggest that you put down your phone.”
 
 I can certainly understand the feeling of always getting pulled into the news cycle or some form of ongoing correspondence.

Yeah, I look at it this way. I work for ABC. If the thing that ABC is paying me for is storytelling — not to make sure that a costume is exactly right or all those other things — then it is up to me to find the most creative space possible, so that that function of my job can happen.

Right, setting those boundaries.
 
And at work I have a rule that you’re not allowed to come into my office unless you’re coming into my office with a solution to a problem, and not with a problem.

A solution to a problem. Hm. Sounds like a post I wrote years ago: Screenwriting as problem-solving.

Identifying problems is one thing. Identifying problems AND solving them, that’s a whole other thing, and something people like Shonda Rhimes are looking for in the writers they hire.

For the rest of the interview, go here.