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22 May 2013 For their 100th birthday, the American Cancer Society has asked us to get loud and help Finish the Fight against cancer! By taking action together we can make sure this gets handled! Pledging our time or money, participating in research studies for the next breakthrough, making healthy choices for ourselves and our families, or simply spreading the word can make a huge difference. Cancer thrives on silence. Progress comes from speaking out. Let's make a ruckus! Pledge at www.cancer.org/fight. Or check them out on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AmericanCancerSociety.

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More from Shondaland:

07 March 2013 So here's what happens when awesome CNN journalist (and fellow Dartmouth alum) @jaketapper and I are left to our own devices on the Oval Office set at #Scandal. We play a game I like to call I AM PRESIDENT. It's a really good game. If you had your own fake Oval Office, I bet you'd play too...
05 December 2012 I GET SCARY TWEETS SOMETIMES. Now, most of y'all are super reasonable sane AWESOME people. Almost all of you are super reasonable sane awesome people. But...sometimes... I know everyone's excited about the possibility of McBaby but (in answer to some tweets I am getting) I actually feel the need to say the following: Grey's Anatomy is a TV show. So you realize that the baby will not ACTUALLY be the spawn of Mer/Der, right? Because they are not real. Mer and Der are characters. Who are not real. Who are played by actors. So the baby? It will be an actor-baby. Who can not possibly come out looking like a cross between Meredith and Derek. It can not have Mer's eyes and Der's hair. Because those eyes are ELLEN's eyes and that hair is PATRICK's hair -- and Ellen's kids look like her and Patrick's kids look like him. But TV kids can not look like them. Mer/Der's baby will come out looking like whomever it's ACTUAL parents are. He/she will be cute because I will cast a cute baby. But that's all I can promise. Cuteness. Not potential hair. Not potential eyes like Mer's. Get ready for that. Because y'all, Patrick and Ellen aren't actually making a baby. Their characters are. It's a TV show. And I love that you love it. I truly do and I'm grateful. But, you know...if you are one of the people sending me scary tweets that suggest you think this is reality...I'm worrying about you right now. Maybe call an actual friend and leave the house? xoxo Shonda PS: Callie/Arizona start trying to get their groove back at Bailey's wedding and it's adorable and sweet and the start of something good. That's your Calzona spoiler-ish statement that I promised...
27 September 2012
28 September 2012 “WHY THE F#%K DOES SHONDA KILL CHARACTERS?!” and answers to other burning questions (WARNING: DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED)… So you watched Private Practice and you watched Grey’s Anatomy and you watched Scandal. Thank you so much. Really. You all are amazing and the fact that you have stuck with us on these journeys is incredible. But some tough stuff happened. Pete died. And Mark died. And Lexie died in last season’s finale. And I’m pretty sure you all want to know why. And I don’t mean why the actors left the show because what happens in Shondaland stays in Shondaland. I mean why the CHARACTERS died, why we the writers made the choices for these characters to do. The reasons are all incredibly different. Here goes: Pete: Emotionally, Pete’s death provides a window for Violet. For the character to have growth and change and be challenged. I loved Pete but choosing to have him die versus run away from his trial ultimately made sense because I didn’t want to have Violet hanging in some kind of limbo wondering where he was or if he would ever come back. Lexie: The death of Lexie Grey haunts me. It does. I adored that character and I couldn’t imagine the show without her. It was important to me that her exit would have maximum impact. The plane was going to crash no matter what. I honestly wasn’t sure, because of contract negotiations, who was going to die in that crash. In my early finale plans, once I knew Chyler was leaving the show, Lexie wasn’t originally even on the plane. She was going to die back at the hospital by doing something as simple as slipping and hitting her head. She would have been dying over at Seattle Grace while other people were dying in the woods. Which wasn’t my favorite plan. She would have died without Mark at her side. Without the chance to say goodbye to him. Without the chance to hear that he loved her. I wanted them together when she left us. Mark: For me, this one is the most tragic. I’m VERY attached to Mark Sloan. He’s part of the fabric of the show. Before he ever even appeared on the show, the characters discussed him. He is one of the originals. I had many options for ways Mark could leave the how. But any option that didn’t include him dying required him to a) grieve for Lexie indefinitely and b) willingly walk away from his daughter. We fought about this incessantly in the Writers Room. I didn’t want to Mark to die but, as the writers rightfully argued back, Mark couldn’t abandon Sofia and he certainly couldn’t abandon Callie once Arizona’s leg was amputated. And even if he left, he’d what? Wander the Earth forever loving Lexie, missing his child and never finding happiness. Hmm…that doesn’t sound like what I want for my beloved Mark Sloan. I kept pitching that he goes to L.A. and runs off with Addison. I loved that idea. But it still required Mark to abandon his child and abandon Arizona. And it meant that I’d have to scrap all the plans I had for Addison this season – and her plans are wonderful. Also, that would somehow suggest that everything he said to Lexie when she was dying was easily forgotten. So…I fought it and I debated it and tossed and turned about it but in the end, I had to do what was right for the integrity of the character. Mark would never abandon willingly Sofia and he would never willingly abandon Callie. So Mark dies. And he and Lexie get to be together in a way. Their love remains true. Okay, I have to go write more scripts. That’s all for now. Scandal Gladiators, I know I didn’t have anything for you in here – that’s because the mysteries make it hard not to give away spoilers! Suffice it say things continue to get juicer and more scandalous. PP’ers: Charlotte is pregnant! And it’s going to be a happy story. Because (GA’ers, you might want to listen in on this too but Gladiators, you should look away because this doesn’t apply to you) I am full of happy stories for our characters this season! There are going to be A LOT of surprises. For all of our characters on all of our shows. We have some weddings and some babies and some romance (both GA and PP). We have some very hot scenes of forbidden love (Scandal all the way). And we have a lot of incredibly strong smart women doing what needs to be done to make their lives work (that’s all of the shows). Whew. It’s hard trying to talk about all 3 shows at once. My brain hurts. If you read this whole thing, I thank you for bothering. Truly. You all are amazing. More later! -Shonda (September 28, 2012)
18 January 2013 By REQUEST and for your viewing pleasure... The Grey-Shepherd Family!
22 May 2013 For their 100th birthday, the American Cancer Society has asked us to get loud and help Finish the Fight against cancer! By taking action together we can make sure this gets handled! Pledging our time or money, participating in research studies for the next breakthrough, making healthy choices for ourselves and our families, or simply spreading the word can make a huge difference. Cancer thrives on silence. Progress comes from speaking out. Let's make a ruckus! Pledge at www.cancer.org/fight. Or check them out on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AmericanCancerSociety.
27 September 2012 Welcome to my new website! Which is just a different way of saying “Welcome to my Brain!” Because here, this place, right here? Is where my brain download is going to go from now on. Do you wanna know what the writers were thinking when we made a character do (insert spoiler here) on Grey’s Anatomy or Scandal or Private Practice? I’ll talk about it here. Do you wanna know about what new projects Betsy Beers and I are developing at our company Shondaland? I’ll talk about it here. Wanna know some super spoiler-y, breaking news-y kinda stuff about Shondaland shows? I’ll talk about it here. And here’s a lot of other stuff that I’ll talk about in this blog and on this site (even if you don’t want to know): what writer’s block feels like, why lying on the floor makes me feel better when I have writer’s block, tips I have on getting into this business, TV shows that I love but have nothing to do with (whassup Homeland and Cougar Town fans?!), books that I am reading, places I may be appearing, things I can’t shut up about, answers to your burning questions, my Spelling Bee obsession… I’ll also post photos and videos and I’ll ramble and rant and rave. Hmm…me rambling and ranting is not likely to be pretty. Or lady-like. Or done without a cocktail in my hand. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea? Let’s try it and find out! TOMORROW: I’m going to write a post-mortem on the season premieres of Private Practice and Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal in which I will try to tell you why we (the writers) made the choices that we did for each show. And maybe, possibly I’ll give you a spoiler or two to tide you over until next week’s episodes…
27 September 2012
24 April 2013 One of the highlights of my evening last night at the TIME100: Got to hang out with Bassem Youssef. Huge admirer of his work. He's jailed in his country for doing what Jon Stewart does every night in ours.
02 October 2012 Very proud to have been a part of this! “Keep it Growing” is a grassroots re-elect President Obama campaign created by entertainment industry “behind the scenes” professionals. “Keep It Growing” means allow the seeds planted in the first four years of Obama’s presidency to “keep growing” another four years.
01 February 2013 EXCLUSIVE FOR GLADIATORS: And once again, EVERYTHING CHANGES. #AmericasBaby #Scandal #GameChanger @ScandalABC
19 October 2012 I'm sad to say that Private Practice's run will end after episode 613 this season. There was a lot of discussion and debate but, in the end, the guys at the network and the studio and I all decided that Private Practice was reaching its finish line. Creatively, we are all extremely proud of the show and especially proud of this season -- which you will all soon discover is a creative renaissance. I can't wait for you to see it. It's heartbreaking to end. Truly. I feel so lucky to write for these characters and tell these stories and I truly feel this show has taught me so much as a writer. And there's a family here, of crew and cast, people who have bonded over these past five and a half seasons. It's rare for a show to go for more than 100 episodes and we are incredibly proud to have been such a show. And we're grateful to all of you for spending time with us for an hour every week for the last 6 years. It's meant the world. Thank you.

Shondaland Snapshot

Creator and Executive Producer of “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Private Practice” and “Scandal”

Shonda Rhimes is the creator of the hit ABC series "Grey's Anatomy," which chronicles the personal and professional lives of surgical residents in Seattle, "Private Practice," which follows Addison Montgomery and her friends at Oceanside Wellness Group and "Scandal," which revolves around the life and work of a professional crisis manager and her dysfunctional staff.

In its ninth season, "Grey's Anatomy" continues to be hailed by audiences and critics. For her work on the series, Rhimes received the 2007 Television Producer of the Year by the Producers Guild of America, the 2007 Golden Globe for Outstanding Television Drama, the 2007 Lucy Award for Excellence in Television from Women in Film, the 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008 and 2007 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing in a Dramatic Series, the 2006 Writers Guild Award for Best New Series, in addition to Emmy nominations for Outstanding Drama Series and Writing for a Drama Series. Rhimes was also the recipient of the 2012 GLAAD Golden Gate Award, 2010 RAINN Hope Award and a 2009 GLSEN Respect Awards Honoree.

Aside from her success with network television, Rhimes wrote the feature film "Princess Diaries 2: A Royal Engagement," released in August 2004 by Disney. Additionally, her original script, "Crossroads," was released in 2002 by Paramount. She also co-wrote "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge," produced by HBO and nominated for numerous awards, and for which Halle Berry won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for Best Actress in a miniseries for her portrayal of Dandridge. In 2004, Rhimes created her production company Shondaland.

Rhimes worked as research director on the Tollin-Robbins/Mundy Lane documentary "Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream." It was nominated for an Emmy Award, an Academy Award and won the Peabody, as well as the NAACP Image Award. She has been a guest speaker at the USC School of Cinema-Television, where she taught a course in scene writing.

Rhimes holds a BA from Dartmouth College in English Literature with Creative Writing. As director of Dartmouth's Black Underground Theatre and Arts Association, her work earned her numerous awards for excellence. She received her MFA from the USC School of Cinema-Television, where she was awarded the prestigious Gary Rosenberg Writing Fellowship.

The child of educators, Rhimes blames her parents for her rampant addiction to books. The youngest of six, she was born and raised outside of Chicago, IL, and now resides in Los Angeles with her two daughters.