Sometimes it feels like Women and Hollywood is really just a Shonda Rhimes fan club in disguise, but we can’t help getting excited everytime the Scandal creator is recognized for being the force of awesomeness that she is.
Rhimes and her producing partner Betsy Beers will be honored by the Directors Guild of America for “their commitment to diversity hiring, their long record of providing jobs and opportunities to women and minorities, and for the example they set for the rest of the industry.” It is only the fifth time that the Diversity Award has been given since its inauguration in 1997, and the first time it has been given to women.
“The DGA Diversity Award is an exceedingly rare honor, given only when we feel strongly that someone is making a real difference in the hiring of women and minorities,” said DGA President Paris Barclay.
That diversity has helped Rhimes’s shows — Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, and Scandal — become huge hits for ABC. Why so few are following in Rhimes and Beers’ footsteps is a mystery, since a recent UCLA study found that TV shows with diverse casts and writing rooms enjoy bigger ratings.
