Shonda Rhimes and Shondaland have renewed their Netflix overall deal for another five years, according to Variety, extending a relationship that has made the streamer the home of Bridgerton and Rhimes’ broader production business. The reported agreement covers film and television projects as well as games, merchandise and live events tied to Shondaland intellectual property.
The renewal keeps one of Netflix’s most recognizable producer partnerships in place as the company continues to build programming into multiplatform franchises. It also follows nearly a decade of collaboration between Netflix, Rhimes and her producing partner Betsy Beers. Financial terms were not disclosed in Variety’s report, nor were detailed provisions governing rights, budgets or output.
A new term after two earlier milestones
The latest five-year term should not be confused with the prior five-year expansion Netflix announced in 2021. Rhimes first moved Shondaland from ABC Studios to Netflix under a multiyear agreement in 2017, a departure documented at the time by Deadline. That deal brought a producer associated with broadcast hits including Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal into the streaming business at a moment when platforms were competing aggressively for major creative talent.
On July 8, 2021, Netflix formally announced an expanded pact with Rhimes, Shondaland and Beers. The company’s announcement broadened the relationship beyond series production: it covered exclusive production, streaming and distribution of feature films, contemplated gaming and virtual-reality work, and added live events and experiences to an existing branding and merchandise arrangement. The Hollywood Reporter also described that 2021 development as an expansion into film and other businesses.
Variety’s Aug. 25 report describes a subsequent renewal, rather than a restatement of the 2021 deal. Its reported scope—film, television, gaming, merchandise and live events—largely continues the wider framework established in the earlier expansion. The difference is consequential in industry terms: the 2021 announcement set out the partnership’s broadened ambitions, while the newly reported agreement would carry that structure forward for another five years.
Bridgerton remains the visible centerpiece
Bridgerton is the clearest public measure of what the partnership has delivered for Netflix. Variety reported Netflix’s figures placing the show’s first season at 113.3 million views and its third at 106 million views in the service’s all-time Top 10. The publication also reported that season four surpassed 100 million views. Those are company-reported viewing metrics, not independently audited audience totals, but they illustrate why the franchise sits at the center of the Shondaland-Netflix relationship.
The franchise’s reach also helps explain why the agreement extends beyond programs themselves. A conventional television overall deal primarily secures a producer’s development and production pipeline. The reported Shondaland arrangement reaches into activities that can be built around existing intellectual property: consumer products, games and in-person events. Netflix had already signaled that approach in 2021, when it specifically included merchandising, live experiences and potential interactive work in its partnership expansion.
Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria said in Variety’s report that the company would continue as Shondaland’s home. Rhimes, in the same report, credited Netflix with giving the company autonomy and support during their nearly 10-year relationship. The statements frame the renewal as continuity for an established creative operation, rather than the launch of a newly defined slate.
The deal also retains an inclusion component
Variety reported that Netflix will continue supporting Shondaland’s inclusion initiatives, including the Ladder Program for underrepresented below-the-line creatives. That element has roots in the wider 2021 arrangement, when Netflix said its expansion with Shondaland would support programs intended to widen access and opportunity in production roles.
Below-the-line positions encompass the crafts and technical departments that make productions possible, from camera and costume work to editing, production design and other crew specialties. The Ladder Program’s inclusion in the reported renewal means the deal is described as more than an exclusive pipeline for Shondaland series and films; it also preserves an employment and training initiative connected to the company’s productions.
The available reporting establishes the length and stated business scope of the new agreement, but not its economic terms. No value, compensation structure, production commitment or detailed rights allocation has been disclosed. What Variety’s report does make clear is that the five-year renewal would preserve Shondaland’s Netflix partnership across television, film, gaming, merchandise, live events and the Ladder Program while the deal’s price and fuller contractual structure remain undisclosed.