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For TV producer Shonda Rhimes, the creator of “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal” and “How to Get Away With Murder,” hiring people of multiple races, genders and sexual orientations is a no-brainer.
“I don’t sit around having to think deeply, ‘Are we including people?’” Rhimes said on the latest episode of Recode Decode, hosted by Kara Swisher. “My world doesn’t work that way, because I am a person who is not included. Generally, a person who looks like me is not included.”
But for many of the people who have historically been included the most in Hollywood— white men — Rhimes said, “it’s Groundhog Day every day.”
“Every time a female-driven movie comes out and it does well, there is just shock that people went to see a movie about women and they were funny!” she said. “Or, people went to see a women-driven movie and it was an action movie, and people went to see it! And, oh my God, black people are on television and people are watching! It’s amazing how often that happens.”
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Despite Hollywood’s continuing struggles with representation, Rhimes looks at the tech industry and thinks, at least we don’t have it that bad.
“In Silicon Valley, there is a problem,” she said. “It’s very different than here. I mean, there’s a problem here, but there’s a really big problem in Silicon Valley. There’s work to be done, and there’s work to be done here, obviously.”
“But that just comes from giving people more opportunities and more people recognizing the problem, which is probably why a lot of journalists spend time writing about it, because they know that every time they do, maybe somebody gets an opportunity,” she added.
The only way she knows to make Hollywood more inclusive is to keep making shows that include everyone — and hope the Groundhog Day folks figure it out eventually.
“Create content that makes what they’re saying sound stupid,” Rhimes said.
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This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
