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In a major announcement made last August, Shonda Rhimes decided to leave ABC Studios to develop original content for Netflix. Now with a multi-year production deal under her belt, the television powerhouse has revealed the first eight projects that she’s developing for the streaming giant.
It includes the adaptation of Isabel Wilkerson’s “The Warmth of Other Suns”, which chronicles the Great Migration of more than six million African Americans from the South to Northern and Western cities between 1915-1970. The book is set to be adapted by actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith.
Rhimes will also develop the docuseries “Hot Chocolate Nutcracker”, which will be about the Debbie Allen Dance Academy’s award-winning reimagining of the classic ballet, “The Nutcracker.” Back in June, Rhimes announced Jessica Pressler’s New York Magazine article “How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People” as her first Netflix project. It’s about a woman who conned rich people into giving her money to fund her lavish lifestyle.
As reported by the New York Times, the other five series that Rhimes has in the works for Netflix are as follows:
-“Pico & Sepulveda,” a series set in Mexican California during the 1840s.
-“The Residence,” based on the 2015 nonfiction book of the same title, by Kate Andersen Brower, about the private lives of United States presidents, their families and White House staff.
-“Sunshine Scouts,” a series that Ms. Rhimes described as a “darkly comic, ironic, twisty show about some foul-mouthed teenage girls who are trapped at the end of the world.” The writer and director Jill Alexander will be in charge of this one.
-An adaptation of a group of lush romance novels set in Regency England — the Bridgerton Series, by Julia Quinn — that the “Scandal” veteran Chris Van Dusen will turn into a dramatic series.
– A series based on “Reset,” a book by the former tech executive Ellen Pao about sexism in Silicon Valley.
Rhimes said in a statement on Friday: “I wanted the new Shondaland to be a place where we expand the types of stories we tell, where my fellow talented creatives could thrive and make their best work and where we as a team come to the office each day filled with excitement. Ted (Sarandos) and Cindy (Holland) and everyone at Netflix have been incredible partners in making that happen. This is Shondaland 2.0.”