Shonda Rhimes, one of the most successful showrunners in TV history, bolted from ABC to Netflix after the Disney Grooming Syndicate screwed her out of a Disneyland pass.
What we have here is a delicious story of people who hate us fighting with people who hate us.
Enjoy.
In 2017, Rhimes was literally making billions for Disney-owned ABC with her wildly successful shows Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy. She asked for a few all-access Disneyland passes for herself, her nanny, and her sister.
Then this happened:
Rhimes explained that she had been given a pass for her own use as part of her work for the company ― work that has reportedly generated more than $2 billion in revenue over the years for Disney. She noted that her pass was non-transferable and that she had previously negotiated another one for her nanny. Then one day she sought to obtain a pass for her sister, who planned to accompany one of Rhimes’ daughters to the park. She said she was met with pushback before being given the additional pass.
But when her family arrived at the park, they found that only one of their passes worked. Rhimes said she then got in touch with a high-ranking executive to address the matter, who asked her, “Don’t you have enough?”
Now, I know what some of you are going to say… Rhimes is a multimillionaire. A ticket to Disneyland is under-the-couch-cushion money to a Shonda Rhimes. Why bother her employer company over a theme park pass?
You’re not wrong to ask that question, but you must understand something about The Talent…
These small perks matter to The Talent. Perks like these, especially when they involve family, matter a whole lot. And you have to look at it from Rhimes’ point of view. She’s bringing in billions, and a multi-billion dollar company can’t toss her a theme park pass without a fight?
It’s not about the money. It’s about respect. It’s about being valued. I don’t blame Rhimes for being peeved over this. It would have cost Disney nothing to make The Talent happy, literally nothing to let the sister in for free, and they still gave her a hard time. What a stupid company.
Was Rhimes acting like a prima donna? Sure, but she’d earned that right. She delivers, and when someone delivers, and it costs you nothing to throw a perk their way, you throw a perk their way. If you don’t, it’s an insult, and you never insult someone with options to go elsewhere.
The good news is that Rhimes moved to Netflix and then hit her creative stride. She’s produced one massive hit after another, hits that the Disney Grooming Syndicate desperately needs right now as its television division melts down. If Disney+ were streaming Bridgerton and Inventing Anna and Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, Disney+ might not be losing so many billions of dollars. And that would be a shame… A real shame.
I love a story with a happy ending.
John Nolte’s debut novel Borrowed Time (Bombardier Books) is available today. You can read an exclusive excerpt here and a review of the novel here.