Kerry Washington on Why We Should All Want to Work for Shonda Rhimes

This week’s Entertainment Weekly cover story delves into the world of showrunner Shonda Rhimes and her leading ladies—Ellen Pompeo on Grey’s Anatomy, Viola Davis on How to Get Away With Murder and Kerry Washington on Scandal. The actors gush about working with Rhimes, and why she’s a better boss than her male counterparts.

“I was talking to an actress who’s pregnant and really worried about telling her bosses, and I said, ‘Yeah, when I told my boss I was pregnant, she literally jumped up and down in my trailer,’” Kerry Washington told Entertainment Weekly. “I don’t know if there’s a male show­runner who would do that.”

Rhimes is one of the few female showrunners in the television business and by far the most successful. Her Thursday night block of ABC dramas regularly draw 10 million viewers or more.

[EW]

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Write to Eliana Dockterman at eliana.dockterman@time.com.