Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1361203
8 Shonda Rhimes is an award-winning television creator, producer and author and New York Times bestselling author. She is also the CEO of Shondaland, the global media company that encompasses brand partnerships, merchandise, theatrical and streaming content, and a digital division. In 2017, Rhimes shifted the entertainment industry's business model when she left network television and brokered an unprecedented agreement for Shondaland to produce streaming content exclusively in partnership with Netflix. Bridgerton, Shondaland's first scripted series with the streamer, is the most watched series in Netflix history. Rhimes is the executive producer of Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker, a documentary highlighting the dance school created by legendary choreographer Debbie Allen, as well as the upcoming anthology series Notes on Love, and Rhimes' first scripted streaming creation, Inventing Anna. Rhimes is the first woman to create three television dramas that have achieved the 100-episode milestone. Those shows, Grey's Anatomy, the longest-running medical drama in history, its spinoff Private Practice, and the groundbreaking series Scandal for ABC, changed the face of television by proving that series which feature characters of color are more financially powerful in terms of advertising dollars and audiences than all white series. This business model is now the norm for all of network television. Shondaland continued to make history with How to Get Away with Murder for which star Viola Davis became the first Black woman to receive a Best Actress in a Drama Emmy. For five TV seasons, Shondaland shows occupied ABC's entire Thursday-night schedule, creating a powerful brand well-known to fans and advertisers as TGIT. Rhimes is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Peabody Award, Career Achievement Awards from the Writers Guild of America, Producers Guild of America and Directors Guild of America, several AFI Awards for Television Program of the Year and NAACP Image Awards, as well as Champion Awards from Planned Parenthood, Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD and The Feminist Majority, as well as the Harvard Medal. She has twice been included on the TIME 100 list of most influential people, as well as Fortune magazine's "50 Most Powerful Women in Business." In 2018, Rhimes was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame. DISTINGUISHED COLLABORATORS SHONDA RHIMES