Famous American award-winning producer Shonda Rhimes’ decision to quit her longtime home at ABC and teaming up with Netflix shook industry watchers by surprise.
Shonda Rhimes is in the limelight yet again as she is getting a huge raise post-signing a new contract with Netflix. In 2017 when she joined Netflix, an American over-the-top content platform company, the pact was that her pay would be between $100 million and $150 million.
Her contract with Netflix has now been expanded for another five years and she will get paid between $300 million to $400 million. Creating Virtual reality, Gaming content, and films are included in this new deal along with branding and merchandising deals.
Shonda Rhimes Expands Her Deal With Netflix To $300 Million
Shondaland, Rhimes’s production company has a partnership affiliation with Netflix for live events and experience. Rhimes left ABC to join Netflix so that she can create good content without being bothered. She produced many hit shows like “Grey’s Anatomy”, “Scandal,” and “How To Get Away With Murder” during her stint at ABC.
Rhimes, who earlier worked as executive producer of the ABC television series has transformed the TV industry after her deal with Netflix. Her first show Bridgerton on the streaming service platform was a blockbuster show and one of her most successful shows ever. Because of the huge response received it has been renewed for three more seasons. Although Rhimes had around 12 months to renew her initial deal, her team began early negotiations this year.
Netflix usually doesn’t reveal its traditional viewership data. However, the company said that at least 82 million member accounts have viewed this series for at least 2 minutes. Netflix reported that it has 208 million subscribers on its platform in the first quarter of 2021 wherein the company added 4 million new subscribers against a target of 6 million which the company was anticipating.
Bridgerton series starring Rege-Jean Page which is a romance drama based on Julia Quinn’s novel was premiered last year on Christmas and has now become the most-watched series on Netflix.
In a statement given to The Hollywood Reporter, Rhimes said, “When Ted [Sarandos] and I decided to break the traditional network TV business model to move Shondaland to Netflix, we were both taking a leap into the unknown. Today, Shondaland at Netflix is creatively thriving, profitable as an asset and engaging audiences around the world with stories that fearlessly challenge viewers and keep them highly entertained all at once.”
