Shonda Rhimes Says Creating Three Hit Shows For ABC At The Same Time Was “Exhausting”: “It Almost Killed Me”

Picture this: It’s a Thursday night in 2014, cable is still commonplace, and Shonda Rhimes is dominating network television.

The series creator, writer, and producer helmed three separate television series on ABC: Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How To Get Away With Murder, all of which aired on Thursday nights. Their massive success spurred ABC to brand the entire Thursday night lineup as “Thank God It’s Thursday,” echoing the thoughts of Rhimes fans everywhere.

Though fans may look back on that era of television fondly, Rhimes confessed in a recent interview with Variety that she had “zero” work-life balance during that time in her career.

“That was exhausting,” she said. “It was an accomplishment. But it was exhausting. And it was great. I loved the storytelling. But I feel like it almost killed me. It was too much.”

Scandal ended in 2018 after seven seasons, while How To Get Away With Murder ended after a controversial six-season run in 2020. Grey’s Anatomy is still chugging along, however, with Season 20 airing now on ABC.

Rhimes explained that she has slowed down her creative output since leaving ABC, which has been “the best thing for my creativity.”

“I left L.A., which helps a lot, because you can’t be in the office all the time if you’re not in the same state, right? I live halfway between L.A. and London, which makes things easier as well,” she explained. “So, yeah, it’s been better. I have lots more creative time to write and think.”

The prolific writer still has several projects to focus on, including Bridgerton, which is entering Season 3, as well as a Black Barbie documentary for Netflix.

Rhimes became one of the biggest creators to migrate to Netflix after penning a nine-figure deal with the streamer in 2017, effectively leaving the network that hosted her work for 15 years and changing the state of television as we know it.

By that point, network television was weighing her down. “I felt like I was dying,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in 2020 while looking back on her time at ABC. “Like I’d been pushing the same ball up the same hill in the exact same way for a really long time.”

In fact, Rhimes noted that she reached her breaking point with the network when she tried to get an extra all-inclusive pass to Disneyland, of which the network had already given her two. As the passes were not interchangeable, she asked for a third pass for her sister to take during a trip to Disneyland. Rhimes recalled that she was told “we never do this” more than once during the debacle, until an exec allegedly asked her, “Don’t you have enough?”

According to Rhimes, this interaction was enough for her to contact her lawyers to begin drawing up a deal with Netflix.

Since penning that deal, Rhimes executive produced the Bridgerton prequel series Queen Charlotte, Inventing Anna, and the inspiring documentary about actress Debbie Allen‘s dance career, Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker. And there’s still more to come.

“Here’s the thing that’s interesting: I’m not doing any worrying about the future — which is an excellent sign — because I’m very happy there,” she told Variety of her current partnership with Netflix. “We’re making the projects we want to make and getting the creative control that we wanted to have. As long as I’m happy there, I’m staying there.”