The creators of the hit TV series “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal” come … a series of new podcasts.
Untangled your headphones and return to your morning journey, as Shondaland Audio and iHeartMedia join for 3 new podcasts this month, and more in the coming months.
In October, titan television manufacturer Shonda Rhimes, who produced “How to Get Away With Murder” in addition to being the showrunner of “Grey’s” and “Scandal”, signed an agreement with iHeartMedia, the world’s leading advertising podcast editor.
On Tuesday, Rhimes’ production company announced exclusively to the Los Angeles Times the upcoming schedule, which will be produced with iHeartMedia and through GroupM.
“You Down?”, a communication-style podcast presented through Obama’s other women, a Los Angeles comedy organization made up of 4 Blacks, hosted the podcast series Tuesday. Next week you will see the arrival of the old exhibition on the genuine crime “Criminalia” and “Go Ask Ali”, presented through actress Ali Wentworth.
In such a podcast-saturated market (there are more than 800,000 active), those cold emissions would possibly have difficulty reducing noise. But for Sandie Bailey, Shondaland Audio’s head of design and virtual media, the content resonates with other people, as do the “Gray” plots.
“For us, it’s just a matter of telling those stories the same way Shondaland has told them,” he told The Times. “Through a lens of facts, through a lens to give other people a mirror in (and) a window to another person’s point of view, in which they can see themselves or hear their own story reflected in them.”
While cases of international coronavirus have doubled in the last forty-five days, more and more people are looking for stories and seeking solace. And more and more Americans are also listening to podcasts: before this year, nearly 40% of the population had heard a podcast last month.
But now other people are in favor of other kinds of stories. Conal Byrne, president of the iHeartPodcast network, has played a role in the global podcast for more than 15 years. After the initial good fortune of “hard-, angry, laswd and guilty programs” like “Serial” from The New York Times, he said other people had replaced their quarantined tastes.
“They turned to exhibits that looked a little more like camaraderie,” Byrne told The Times. “When I saw this replacement happen, it made me feel that the Shondaland board was even more timely and relevant. Anyone in any provision who has recently been quarantined will have the option to pay attention to anything based on that list.”
Early next year, this list will be expanded to include “American Coup,” a scripted series that explores the story of first lady Edith Wilson, who necessarily took over the Oval Office; “#Matter,” a scripted drama about a journalist reflecting on a case of police brutality; and “Black Girl Lost,” which examines an increasing number of black women and black women in a documentary style.
While some of these systems face considerations about george Floyd’s death in custody in Minneapolis and an ongoing crusade for racial equity, programming has been underway for months.
“I think part of the programming was, attractive enough, already on the board before we saw this recent uprising,” Bailey said. “And it will be amazing for us to tell some of those stories now.”
Byrne believes that times are catching up on what Shondaland was already looking to communicate: “what we’ve all communicated to each other anyway.”
“We’ve noticed that many media brands evolve around release dates, return and roll back releases to respond, be relevant, and that’s smart and fair. It just wasn’t obligatory with that list,” he said. “I was already there.