Dec 17, 2019, 11:00 AM ETFireside Chat, Interview, Conference Presentation

Scaling Creativity with Marc Andreessen and Shonda Rimes

Shondaland currently manages five shows in production with a weekly output of 70 hours of television across four simultaneous projects.
The production budget for a single network television episode ranges from $3 million to $6 million, averaging $5 million.
Maintaining four shows in production requires a new episode to be delivered every nine days, generating approximately $20 million in weekly production costs.
Annual production costs for the slate reach $350 million per season, with 16 episodes actively in development at all times.
Shonda Rhimes' shows air in 256 territories and 67 languages, reaching a global audience of 30 million viewers.
Grey's Anatomy has been in production for 16 seasons with 350 episodes produced, defying the industry average for network longevity.
Shondaland operates as a "mini-studio" with 38 to 40 employees, including dedicated leadership for production, post-production, content, digital content, and branding.
The organization is structured to handle crisis management autonomously; for example, the head of production has previously saved $20 million through operational decisions.

Rhimes transitioned her production company to Netflix, shifting the strategic focus from retaining a specific network audience to creating content that drives global subscriptions.
Under the Netflix partnership, the studio receives creative freedom described as "make whatever makes you happy," with no upfront pressure to meet specific subscriber retention projections.
Network television requires adherence to specific time slots, commercial breaks, and recaps, whereas Netflix allows for narrative freedom without act breaks or the need to recap previous episodes.
Rhimes anticipates that the streaming model will allow for increased narrative complexity and sophistication due to the absence of commercial breaks and the "binge" viewing model.
Shondaland plans to release Netflix shows in full "binge" drops rather than the weekly episodes standard for network television.
The move includes establishing a new physical facility designed to function as a creative incubator for writers, inspired by the United Artists model of artist-owned studios.

The creation of Grey's Anatomy involved Rhimes pitching three ideas; the third was selected after she identified a specific demand from ABC CEO Bob Iger for a medical drama.
Rhimes leveraged her film experience and the need for deep character development to differentiate her medical drama from existing tropes like TLC's surgical reality shows.
Success for a new show is generally confirmed around episode 10, where the narrative engine and creative cohesion become clear.
Rhimes notes that shows often require a "left turn" in tone or plot to find their full potential, citing Succession and the second seasons of The West Wing or Grey's Anatomy as examples.
Network test screenings are used primarily to validate the show's viability to executives ("the suits") rather than to alter the creative direction significantly.
Netflix's data analytics provide a distinct advantage over network testing by identifying exact moments when audiences discontinue viewing, offering precise behavioral data rather than subjective opinion.

Early scaling of the company relied on Rhimes' personal exhaustion and overwork, followed by the deliberate construction of a trusted infrastructure and a large talent pool.
The company prioritizes hiring based on output, work ethic, and passion rather than pedigree; Rhimes cites a specific employee who was hired despite lacking personal transportation due to her exceptional work ethic.
Shondaland employs an internal promotion strategy, elevating assistants and junior writers (e.g., Chris Van Dusen of Bridgerton, Pete Nowak of How to Get Away with Murder) to showrunners.
The company maintains that trust is the single most critical factor for scaling, as the inability to delegate would lead to rapid burnout for the showrunner.
Rhimes maintains a 100% success rate in producing shows that reach at least 100 episodes, a self-imposed standard that she notes is "barely" hard on herself given her track record.
The production team operates as a "well-oiled machine" where leadership handles problem-solving, allowing the showrunner to focus exclusively on the creative writers' room.

Rhimes observes an industry inversion where television has become the primary medium for character-driven, writer-controlled stories, whereas film has shifted toward big-budget blockbuster franchises.
In television, the writer serves as the primary creative through-line and authority, effectively "firing" the director, whereas in film the director holds final creative control.
The show Scandal was canceled after Season 7 because real-world political events had surpassed the show's fictional narrative complexity, making it impossible to write a compelling continuation.
Rhimes warns that while social media creates a "live-tweeting" water-cooler effect for network TV, it increases the risk for films by allowing immediate spoilers and rapid judgment that can kill a movie's opening weekend.
For Netflix, the lack of commercial breaks allows for more complex plotting, but Rhimes maintains a preference for fast-paced storytelling to avoid the "slow" pacing common in some streaming dramas.
The production team avoids pushing audiences too far by relying on long-term audience trust; fans who have watched a show for years are more willing to accept drastic character developments, such as Scandal characters becoming sociopathic serial killers.

Rhimes recommends the German Netflix series Dark, citing its complex narrative and high-quality dubbing as a benchmark for international streaming content.
She identifies Succession as a "genius" show that she has not yet seen but highly recommends for its writing quality.
Rhimes points to the HBO comedy Barry as a unique example of writing and performance that stands apart from current television standards.
The company views the current industry moment as a transition period where a new horizon for creative expression is emerging, akin to the original United Artists studio model.
Rhimes asserts that while binge-watching changes the social experience of television, it does not diminish the audience's ability to connect with and discuss content.