On this day in 1970, television producer and screenwriter Shonda Rhimes was born in Chicago. Before starting her career as an award winning producer and writer, Rhimes moved to L.A. and worked numerous jobs including an office administrator and a counselor for mentally ill people before landing a job as the research director for the Peabody Award-winning film Hank Aaron: Chasing The Dream, which set her out on the path which we all know her for best.
For her born day, TheSource.com has come up with a list of our five favorite flicks that were either written, produced or both by the windy city screenwriter.
Grey’s Anatomy
Set in Seattle, but filmed in L.A., an American medical drama television series that premiered on ABC, is a series focuses on the fictional lives of surgical interns and residents as they gradually evolve into seasoned doctors, while trying to maintain personal lives and relationships. The show’s premise originated with Rhimes, who serves as an executive producer, the show is intended to be racially diverse.
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge
Written by Rhimes, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge is a television film directed by Martha Coolidge. Filmed over a span of a few weeks in early 1998, the film was aired in United States on August 21, 1999. The teleplay is drawn exclusively from the biography of Dorothy Dandridge by Earl Mills and starred actress Halle Berry. The original music score was composed by Elmer Bernstein, who had known Dandridge and Otto Preminger.
The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Also written by Rhimes, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement is a 2004 American romantic flick and the sequel to 2001’s The Princess Diaries. Unlike the first film, this film is not based on any of the books. Most of the cast returned from the first film, including Julie Andrews, Anne Hathaway, Héctor Elizondo, Heather Matarazzo and Larry Miller returned to direct and Debra Martin Chase to produce the sequel.
Scandal
Debuting in 2012 on ABC, the drama with the cult-like following is partially based on former President George H.W. Bush administration press aide Judy Smith, who serves as a co-executive producer. The series stars Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope, the side piece of the President of the United States.
How To Get Away With Murder
The television series starring award-winning actress Viola Davis as a law professor at a prestigious Philadelphia university who, with five of her students, becomes entwined in a murder plot. The show features an ensemble cast with Davis as Annalise Keating, Alfred Enoch, Jack Falahee, Aja Naomi King, Matt McGorry and Karla Souza as her students, Charlie Weber and Liza Weil as her assistants, Katie Findlay as her former client, and Billy Brown as a police detective and Annalise’s lover.
