Wanna Work in Shondaland? Follow these Rules

Shonda Rhimes and her partner Betsy Beers oversee the Land of Oz also known as Shondaland. A place where the streets are paved with excellence and everybody is organically programmed to create the kind of characters that instigate our senses and rob us of our ability to spend Thursday nights away from our sets.

For writers who fantasize of being immersed in such a world but can’t fathom how to turn the dreams into reality – you may be able to access the unreachable through the testimony of a scribe who paid his dues and acquired a place at the table where he breaks bread with the very best the industry has to offer.

Pete Nowalk is now in the enviable position of being able to candidly express the fact that he made it! Yep! He is a raving success in the competitive world of television – and all it took was oodles of talent, the mandated sacrificial period, and of course being slapped with the good luck stick.

Nowalk took the road well traveled by starting out as an assistant, which he documented in his bestselling book. For those of you who can relate to that chaotic status – it is a quick and gratifying read.

During that time, Norwalk harbored a deep liking for Rhimes’ first hit show – Grey’s Anatomy, and that shifted his focus from movies to television. It also propelled his attempt to pen his first TV pilot script, which Beers was able to peep before anyone else. Impressed and interested, Beers gave Rhimes a chance to read it and this changed the trajectory of Nowalk’s burgeoning career.

He ended up being a writer for Private Practice the spinoff of Grey’s. Nowalk expressed how he internalized his amazing opportunity to The Hollywood Reporter; “Betsy Beers and Shonda Rhimes literally were Santa Claus for me”.

We bet! And expectedly it was the gift that kept on giving, as he made the rounds through the channels of Shondaland – conquering Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and then finally the big topper, How to Get Away with Murder which he sold to his two fairy godmothers.

Both Rhimes and Beers serve as producers and while this whole melody seems too good to be true, it is a testament to Norwalk’s astute capabilities as reiterated by Beers who confirms that her mentee is “one of the most instinctively gifted showrunners I have ever encountered”. She goes on to credit him duly for the runaway success of Murder, which she attributes to his uncanny talent for pitching, great worth ethic and just being so darn smart. “From the moment we hit the ground on the Murder pilot – literally from pitch-point – the guy has been incredibly intelligent about he absorbs feedback. He knows how he feels about things, he is very articulate about it and he as a really clear vision”.

Sounds like a winner! But there is a formula to Nowalk’s success and Beers highlighted the main bullet points to The Hollywood Reporter.

It is pretty much what you can imagine if you are already wading in the pool – you just have to be stylized in your delivery in ways that suit your intended project. This is the best way to arrest the attention of the ones you are trying to impress. Beers concurs, “When you are staffing a show, one of the things you want is somebody who wants to write in the style of the show, but also who has an angle or a specificity that you can tell will be contribution to whatever the process is as they move forward”. “The great thing about Pete was, from the first spec script I read of his nine years ago, he was already able to create a complete world with three-dimensional characters that were really riveting and super entertaining”.

This doesn’t seem like a tall order for the hopefuls out there that are clamoring for a chance to be heard among the throngs of likeminded candidates. Do the work and your permanent invitation to Shondaland awaits!