Arts & Entertainment, Writing
Shonda's Journey
Lesson time 12:38 min
Learn how Shonda went from being a Dartmouth and USC graduate to the queen of Thursday night.
Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars
Topics include: Shonda's Personal Journey
Teaches Writing for Television
In 6+ hours of video lessons, Shonda teaches you her playbook for writing and creating hit television.
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Both my parents are educators. They work in the education field. And what was great about that is having sort of two super nerdy intellectuals for parents meant that reading was pretty much everything in my family. Books were treasures in my family. My house was filled with them. My parents' idea of a really good time was a book or a game of chess. So I spent a lot of time in the library. My parents had a rule that I could read whatever I wanted, no questions asked. There was sort of no censorship based on my age, none at all. Which meant that I could sort of-- I remember very clearly reading The French Lieutenant's Woman when I was seven or eight and asking my mother about some very interesting words, and her saying, the dictionary's over there and going to look them up. But it also made me love reading. It made me love books, it made me love the written word. And that is everything. I think if you don't grow up with that around you, finding your sense of storytelling and finding your love of language and of words has to come from someplace else, it has to come from outside. I was lucky enough to have that around me all the time. Writing felt like something I could do mainly because I couldn't imagine doing anything else. I graduated from college and really felt lost, I mean truly felt lost. The idea of going to get one of those jobs that all my friends went to get-- I remember doing the interviewing process in New York and sitting in these meetings and people talking about things that sounded unbelievably boring to me, working in these offices and doing these things that I'm sure I would have been fine doing. I just didn't want to do them. And I'm kind of an overachiever, but I wanted to love what I did. So I literally moved to San Francisco and lived in my sister's basement and got a job at an advertising agency to just make a living, and I was miserable. And then I read somewhere, I think it was The New York Times. It was an article that said it was harder to get into USC Film School than it was to get into Harvard Law School. And I thought well, my parents will have to support that, because it's hard to get into, it's graduate school, and it's education. And so I applied and I got in. And my parents were supportive because they thought well, she can teach. If she gets out, she can teach this weird thing she wants to do. And it seemed exciting at the time. I think a lot of independent filmmakers were starting to come out and Sex, Lies, and Videotape had just become a thing, and that felt exciting. And so I went to film school thinking, let's try this, and really fell in love with it. I don't know that I ever doubted I could pursue something. And I think that is because I was raised by parents who were very positive in a lot of ways. And even though they weren't necessarily thrilled that I wanted to make a living out ...
About the Instructor
When Shonda Rhimes pitched Grey’s Anatomy she got so nervous she had to start over. Twice. Since then, she has created and produced TV’s biggest hits. In her screenwriting class, Shonda teaches you how to create compelling characters, write a pilot, pitch your idea, and stand out in the writers’ room. You’ll also get original pilot scripts, pitch notes, and series bibles from her shows. Welcome to Shondaland.
Featured MasterClass Instructor
Shonda Rhimes
In 6+ hours of video lessons, Shonda teaches you her playbook for writing and creating hit television.
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