Television producer Shonda Rhimes appears to be doing just fine in her new home over at Netflix. On Wednesday, Jan. 27, Netfix announced that Rhimes’ latest project, “Bridgerton,” became the streaming service’s “biggest series ever on Netflix,” Vanity Fair reported.
Netflix stated that “82 million households around the world chose to watch ‘Bridgerton’ in its first 28 days.” Those figures were based on subscribers who watched at least two minutes of a piece of content — an amount of time Netflix determined to be “long enough to indicate the choice was intentional.” Nonetheless, the Regency era romance series has come out on top in 83 separate countries, including the U.S., U.K., Brazil and France.
Fans on social media celebrated Rhimes triumph. Journalist Nina Parker took to her Twitter account over the week and wrote, “Remember when ABC let their most talented creator (who had made BILLIONS for them) slip through their fingers bc they didn’t want give her a $154 Disneyland pass??”
Others familiar with the park pass scandal chimed in, including another Twitter user who commented, “From the story it was less about the pass and more on how the executive responded to it. That ‘Did you have enough already?’ to someone who has gave Disney billions is crazy. They love to ask you for blood but when you need a towel, it’s too much.”
“Imagine not comping Shonda Rhimes an amusement park pass and then watching this happen after she leaves your network.”
“Shonda Rhimes left ABC for Netflix and has scored another massive hit Bridgerton,” a third expressed. “The backstory of why she left is an important example of knowing your worth and standing up for yourself. Don’t let an employer treat valuing you as if it’s a favor.”
Rhimes’ now-infamous exit from ABC garnered the network backlash after it let one of its most significant assets of nearly 15 years — reportedly having earned the network billions of dollars — leave over an amusement park pass.
The “How to Get Away with Murder” creator had already admitted to feeling like she “was dying” during the negotiation process of her contract renewal and creatively had one step out of the door. When speaking about her experience, Rhimes said it was “Like I’d been pushing the same ball up the same hill in the exact same way for a really long time.”
However, the final nail in the coffin came in the form of a Disney pass. During an interview with Hollywood Reporter, Rimes revealed that when she reached out for help regarding an amusement park pass to Disneyland for her sister, which was valued at $154, she was instead met with a reluctant executive who allegedly told her, “Don’t you have enough?”
Rhimes explained that after collecting her thoughts and calming down, she called her lawyer and told them that she was going to Netflix and that if they could not honor her request, she would “find new representatives” who could.
