Shondaland

Shondaland

Shondaland

American television production company

Not to be confused with Mashonaland.

Shondaland (stylized as ShondaLand from 2005 to 2016 and shondaland thereafter) is an American television production company founded by television writer and producer Shonda Rhimes.[1] She founded it to be one of the production companies of her first series, the medical drama Grey's Anatomy in 2005. It has since gone on to produce Rhimes's other creations, Grey's spinoff Private Practice and the political drama Scandal, and her other productions—the short-lived Off the Map, the Viola Davis-starring legal thriller How to Get Away with Murder, and the crime thriller The Catch—all of which are co-produced with ABC Studios and air on ABC. As of 2017, it has a partnership affiliation with Netflix.

Quick Facts Company type, Industry ...

History

Programming block

In 2014, the ABC network programmed its entire Thursday primetime lineup with television series produced by Shondaland, then branded the Shondaland-filled programming block as "Thank God It's Thursday," also referred to in its shortened form, TGIT.[2] This echoes ABC's former TGIF branding of its Friday night family sitcoms[3] and NBC's Must See TV promotion of formidable Thursday night television hits in the 1990s. Thursday is an especially important night for American television networks because it is the last chance for advertisers of weekend purchases, like movies and cars, to reach a large TV audience, and networks schedule highly rated programming for the night to attract those advertising dollars.[4] The Associated Press called Rhimes' reign of an entire night of network television "unmatched in TV history."[5]

Productions

The first series produced by Shondaland is Grey's Anatomy, which premiered on March 27, 2005, and currently is broadcasting its nineteenth season.[6] In 2007, Private Practice premiered, and lasted for six seasons, until its final broadcast, on January 22, 2013.[7] The third installment, Off the Map, was created by Jenna Bans and lasted for only one season, in 2011.[8] Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder, premiered in 2012 and 2014, respectively, with Scandal airing its final episode on April 19, 2018, and How to Get Away with Murder airing its final episode on May 14, 2020. The comedy-driven crime drama The Catch aired for two seasons and received generally positive reviews from critics.[9] The period drama Still Star-Crossed premiered on May 29, 2017, and was cancelled after one season.[10] The legal drama For the People, created by Paul William Davies and set to premiere in the 2017–18 television season,[11] is the eighth television series produced by Shondaland. In May 2019, it was cancelled after two seasons.[12] It was announced on January 3, 2018, that Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder would crossover with one another in Shondaland's first crossover event (excluding spin-offs).[13]

Website

In 2017, Shondaland launched the lifestyle website Shondaland.com in partnership with Hearst.[14]

Initiatives

Shonda Rhimes shares her knowledge with aspiring screenwriters and producers through ShondaLand and initiatives for her MasterClass.com program.[15]

Shondaland partnered with Seriesfest[16] in 2019 to launch the Women's Directing Mentorship,[17] a competition designed to discover aspiring female directors.[18][19] The Seriesfest panel included Shondaland's Head of Fiction Alison Eakle, Akua Murphy, Katie Lowes and Anna Deavere Smith.[20] The first Shondaland Women's Directing Mentorship was awarded to Rachel Myers.[21]

In January 2020, it was announced that Shonda Rhimes had partnered with iHeartMedia to launch Shondaland Audio.[22]

Shondaland overview

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Recurring actors

Some actors appear in more than one television show produced by Shondaland. Currently, Liza Weil, Mimi Kennedy, John Getz, José Zúñiga, Cynthia Stevenson, Faran Tahir and Anthony Hill are the only actors to make appearances in four shows.

  = Main role    = Recurring role
More information WorkActor, Grey's Anatomy ...

References

  1. [1]
    Lebeau, Jordan (September 22, 2014). "The Angry Black Women of Shondaland: What The New York Times (and Slate) Got Wrong". The Boston Globe. Retrieved September 23, 2014.
  2. [2]
    Abrams, Natalie (August 21, 2014). "See how ABC is promoting Shonda Rhimes' Thursday takeover". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
  3. [3]
    Poggi, Jeanine (May 16, 2016). "TV Upfront: Any Given Thursday: ABC May Not Have the NFL As It Heads to the Upfront, But It's Got Shonda Rhimes". Advertising Age. Vol. 87, no. 10. pp. 14–17.
  4. [4]
    McFarland, Melanie. "On TV: Thursday night throwdown". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
  5. [5]
    Moore, Frazier. "Shonda Rhimes Lays Claim To Thursday Nights On ABC". Associated Press. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
  6. [6]
    Swift, Andy (February 10, 2017). "Grey's Anatomy, Scandal and HTGAWM Renewed for 2017–18 Season". TVLine. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  7. [7]
    Mitovich, Matt Webb (October 19, 2012). "Shonda Rhimes Announces Private Practice End Date, Calls Decision 'Heartbreaking'". TVLine. Retrieved October 19, 2012.
  8. [8]
    "ABC: 'V' Cancelled, 'Brothers & Sisters,' 'Mr. Sunshine,' 'Detroit 187,' 'Off The Map,' 'No Ordinary Family,' 'Better With You' Cancelled Too". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. May 13, 2011. Archived from the original on February 13, 2017. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
  9. [9]
    Stanhope, Kate; Goldberg, Lesley; O'Connell, Michael (May 11, 2017). "ABC Cancels 'American Crime,' 'Dr. Ken,' 'Imaginary Mary,' 'Secrets and Lies,' 'The Catch, 'The Real O'Neals'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
  10. [10]
    Nemetz, Dave (June 22, 2017). "Still Star-Crossed Essentially Cancelled as ABC Banishes Drama to Saturdays". TVLine. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
  11. [11]
    Wagmeister, Elizabeth (May 11, 2017). "ABC Greenlights Shondaland Show, Zach Braff Comedy, Freddie Highmore Medical Drama, Three More Series". Variety. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
  12. [12]
    Mason, Charlie (May 9, 2019). "For the People Cancelled at ABC". TVLine. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
  13. [13]
    "ABC Announces a Special TGIT Event with 'How to Get Away with Murder' and 'Scandal' Crossover Episodes". www.disneyabcpress.com. Archived from the original on 4 January 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  14. [14]
    Faircloth, Kelly. "Shondaland.com Has Arrived". Jezebel. Retrieved 2017-12-08.
  15. [15]
    Abulaban, Dana (2018-04-16). "Making Television Great Again: A "ShondaLand" Specialty". Medium. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
  16. [16]
    "Season 6: June 18-24, 2020. | SeriesFest". SeriesFest | Season 6: June 18–24, 2020. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
  17. [17]
    "Shonda Rhimes' Shondaland Partners With SeriesFest for Female-Director Initiative". Variety. 2018-11-29. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
  18. [18]
    Romero, Ariana. "If You've Always Wanted To Direct". www.refinery29.com. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
  19. [19]
    "Season 6: June 18-24, 2020. | SeriesFest". SeriesFest | Season 6: June 18–24, 2020. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
  20. [20]
    SeriesFest: Season 5 | Shondaland 2.0, retrieved 2020-01-12
  21. [21]
    Turchiano, Danielle (2020-04-17). "SeriesFest Renews Partnership With Shondaland, Introduces Executive Elevation Mentorship Program (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 2020-09-10.
  22. [22]
    "Shondaland Partners With iHeartMedia to Launch Shondaland Audio". www.nasdaq.com. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
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