fbpx

Shonda Rhimes-Netflix Deal Adds To Growing Threat Hollywood Faces From Streaming Services

Shonda Rhimes-Netflix Deal Adds To Growing Threat Hollywood Faces From Streaming Services

Disney’s plans to pull content from Netflix by 2019 suffered a counter-blow when Netflix announced Sunday that it is bringing on board ABC’s award-winning writer-producer, Shonda Rhimes, to create content for the streaming platform.

Rhimes is the first Black woman to reach 100-episode milestone three times in her career for the ABC hit series, “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Private Practice” and “Scandal.”

Netflix offers Rhimes a new forum in the world of streaming — one she hasn’t explored yet — to tell stories that push the envelope, according to Hollywood Reporter.

When Rhimes cast Kerry Washington as fixer Olivia Pope on “Scandal,” it helped usher in a new era of diversity on the small screen. Washington got her first Emmy nomination in 2013 and became the first African American nominated for Best Drama Actress in 18 years and fifth overall.

The Disney–ABC Television Group is a holdings company that manages all of The Walt Disney Company’s Disney and ABC-branded TV properties.

With a market cap of about $158 billion and revenue from theme parks and film studios, Disney is worth about twice as much as Netflix, which has a market cap of about $78 billion and has $20 billion in debt, LA Times reported.

But Netflix is tech centric. It has 100 million global subscribers, a recommendation algorithm