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Netflix has signed Shonda Rhimes to a multi-year production deal, ending a 15-year relationship with ABC Studios that yielded hits from “Grey’s Anatomy” to “Scandal.”
Her shingle, Shondaland, will begin producing new series for Netflix while she continues to stay involved in her current broadcast series. Executive producer Betsy Beers will also come to Netflix with Rhimes, one of the most successful TV producers of the past decade.
“Shonda Rhimes is one of the greatest storytellers in the history of television,” said Ted Sarandos, chief content officer, Netflix, in a statement. “Her work is gripping, inventive, pulse-pounding, heart-stopping, taboo-breaking television at its best. I’ve gotten the chance to know Shonda and she’s a true Netflixer at heart — she loves TV and films, she cares passionately about her work, and she delivers for her audience. We’re so excited to welcome her to Netflix.”
Rhimes has been a consistent supplier of successful dramas for ABC, including most recently “How to Get Away With Murder” and “Scandal.” Her first series for ABC, medical drama “Grey’s Anatomy,” was a home run out of the gate and is heading in to its 14th season this fall. A “Grey’s Anatomy” spinoff is also in the works.
Netflix is familiar with the Shondaland milieu. The streaming service has long carried older episodes of “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal” and “HTGAWM” in the U.S., and in select markets around the world.
The Rhimes pact reflects Netflix’s increasing interest in producing original series the company can own, as well as the arms race continuing to escalate between not only the streaming service and TV networks, but other subscriber VOD options like Amazon Prime and Hulu. Earlier this week, Amazon signed on another proven hitmaker, Robert Kirkman, creator of AMC’s megahit “The Walking Dead.”
Netflix has been a whirlwind of activity as of late, signing filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen to a deal for a series, “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.” The company also just made its first acquisition, Millarworld, which will yield intellectual property from a roster of comics that have yielded movies in the past from “Kickass” to the “Kingsman” franchise.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the news. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed Rhimes was earning an estimated $10 million a year under her previous ABC Studios pact. Netflix undoubtedly is paying a premium to Rhimes and in overhead for Shondaland to bring her into the fold under the exclusive deal. The complicated deal is believed to include innovative backend profit definitions for Rhimes to accommodate for the lack of syndication opportunities for programs produced for Netflix’s global platform. The deal was hammered out by Rhimes’ longtime reps at ICM Partners and attorney Michael Gendler.
The deal has been in the works for months. Rhimes’ existing pact with ABC Studios had been set to expire in June 2018. It’s understood that Rhimes let the studio know some time ago that she intended to move on after the deal ended — not to a direct broadcast competitor but to a new chapter of her career. At that point, discussions ensued to allow Rhimes an early exit from the deal.
The Shondaland operation is expected to remain based out of Sunset Gower Studios in Hollywood, where “Scandal” and “How to Get Away With Murder” are shot.
“Shondaland’s move to Netflix is the result of a shared plan Ted Sarandos and I built based on my vision for myself as a storyteller and for the evolution of my company,” said Rhimes in a statement. “Ted provides a clear, fearless space for creators at Netflix.”
“I am a huge fan of the talented team and amazing programming at Netflix,” said Beers. “The ability to create content for our new partners is an exciting challenge. I am grateful to everyone at ABC for their continued support and I look forward to beginning this next chapter at Netflix.”
The network and studio arms of ABC issued statements thanking Rhimes for her work for the Disney-owned TV properties, and assuring that the “TGIT” lineup is to continue airing. ” I’m proud to have given a home to what have become some of the most celebrated and talked about shows on television,” said ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey. “With the launch of a new season upon us, fans can rest assured that TGIT remains intact and will be as buzzed about as ever.”
A good deal of Rhimes-related series are still in the pipeline at ABC Studios, which also has numerous overall deals with showrunners associated with her shows. Another Shondaland series, “For the People,” is expected to bow in the midseason. Rhimes is committed to maintaining her involvement in the “TGIT” series. She’s taking a hands-on role in the final season of “Scandal.” She hammered out the roadmap for the Washington, D.C.-based sudser and is said to be penning multiple episodes.
But for Rhimes, the move to Netflix offers a chance to work in a variety of genres and formats that are beyond the scope of broadcast TV. In Netflix’s subscription environment, there’s more creative freedom to produce limited and recurring series of various episode lengths, and there’s flexibility even in the length of each episode. That is attractive to Rhimes. The producer has already proved herself in the broadcast arena, breaking ground with “Scandal” and “HTGAWM” in fielding series with African-American female leads.
The Netflix deal comes just days after ABC’s parent company seemed to have done the streaming service the disservice of opting not to renew Disney and Pixar movies when their licenses expire in 2019. The conglomerate also just announced plans to launch a pair of new streaming services, one from ESPN and another with a mix of Disney-related content that could provide a challenger to Netflix.
But Disney CEO Bob Iger played down the notion of any rivalry between the two companies, noting a range of other pacts that are still in place. Disney and Netflix are also negotiating over the future of films currently on the streaming service from Lucasfilm and Marvel.
Cynthia Littleton contributed to this report.
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WASHINGTON — The Latest on President Donald Trump and the weekend’s violence and death in Charlottesville, Virginia (all times local):
9:20 a.m.
The CEO of the nation’s third largest pharmaceutical company is resigning from the President’s American Manufacturing Council citing “a responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism.”
President Donald Trump lashed out almost immediately Monday at Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier on Twitter, saying Frazier “will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!”
Frazier’s resignation comes shortly after a violent confrontation between white supremacists and protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, that left one person dead and 19 injured. He said in a tweet on Monday that the country’s leaders must “honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy.”
Trump responded to Saturday’s violence in Charlottesville by blaming bigotry on “many sides.” He has not explicitly condemned the white supremacists.
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9:15 a.m.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is telling ABC’s “Good Morning America” that the death of a woman in Charlottesville, Virginia, “does meet the definition of domestic terrorism in our statute.”
Sessions said the Justice Department is pursuing the case “in every way.”
He added: “You can be sure we will charge and advance the investigation towards the most serious charges that can be brought, because this is an unequivocally unacceptable and evil attack that cannot be accepted in America.”
Sessions also says he is meeting with President Donald Trump and officials from the FBI on Monday to discuss the recent violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.
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7:00 a.m.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions says “too much has been read into” President Donald Trump’s statement Saturday amid violence at a protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, related to the removal of a Confederate monument.
In several television interviews on Monday, Sessions said Trump had “explicitly condemned” violence and that “he totally opposes” the values espoused by white supremacy organizations. Trump referenced violence “on many sides.”
He tells NBC News that Trump “ will be speaking to the people today” although he isn’t sure what Trump will say. Sessions added: “He’s been firm on this from the beginning. He is appalled by this.”
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3:44 a.m.
As President Donald Trump remained out of sight and silent, pressure mounted from both sides of the aisle for him to explicitly condemn white supremacists and hate groups involved in deadly, race-fueled clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Trump, who has been at his New Jersey golf club on a working vacation, was set to make a one-day return to Washington on Monday to sign an executive action on China’s trade practices. But he will likely be unable to escape questions and criticism for his initial response to the Saturday’s violence, for which he blamed bigotry on “many sides.”
The White House tried to stem the damage on Sunday. Senior aides were dispatched to the morning news shows, yet they struggled at times to explain the president’s position. A new White House statement on Sunday explicitly denounced the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi groups, but it was attributed to an unnamed spokesperson and not the president himself.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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