In my experience, all television screenwriters who started their careers in the 2000s have a PhD in Shonda Rhimes. This, of course, includes Duana who is a TV writer and a total nerd and can probably give a Ted Talk on Shonda because Shonda is the standard.
So we’re deep-diving on Shonda’s profile in The Hollywood Reporter. I’ve written about the Disneyland pass story but on this episode, we examine how that incident gives us insight into Shonda’s working relationship with ABC overall, and what the Disneyland situation says about ABC’s work and how work is valued – or not – when salary negotiations are happening and how that relates to overall corporate strategies when it comes to compensation, which is the real life application here, especially for anyone who works in a corporate structure.
Then to Sacha Baron Cohen and Borat. Borat 2 has been making headlines about the Rudy Giuliani scene and if you’ve seen it, you know what that scene is directly connected to another scene in the film that takes place at a debutante ball. What’s the work that goes into being Borat? And the sacrifice that goes into being Borat? This is not to say that sacrifice is noble. In Borat’s case, it may be far from noble. In fact, some would say that it’s cruel. Sacha’s rationale might be that he does it all in service of the art and the work. But what are the work lines that should and shouldn’t be crossed? What is the value of this work in the end? We’d love to hear your thoughts.
Thank you for supporting our show and for caring about work! Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and reach out to us with suggestions and comments!
PS. Here’s a shot of the hair thing I was doing during the beginning of the episode that Duana exasperatedly refers to.
