--- title: Shonda Rhimes on Writing Strong Female Characters description: Find out why Shonda Rhimes told TIME for FIRSTS about being asked about how she writes strong female characters. canonical: https://time.com/4934116/shonda-rhimes-female-characters-firsts/ author: Entertainment Weekly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-09T11:00:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:44:50.400Z og:title: Shonda Rhimes Hates Being Asked How She Writes Strong Female Characters og:description: 'I find it appalling because it suggests that there are stupid, weak women' og:url: https://time.com/4934116/shonda-rhimes-female-characters-firsts/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95cfb778cf715983/6988dcef096a942b2d69f7df/shonda-rhimes_luisa-dorr-time-firsts-2017_fb.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Shonda-Rhimes_luisa-dorr-time-firsts-2017_FB og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Shonda Rhimes Hates Being Asked How She Writes Strong Female Characters twitter:description: 'I find it appalling because it suggests that there are stupid, weak women' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95cfb778cf715983/6988dcef096a942b2d69f7df/shonda-rhimes_luisa-dorr-time-firsts-2017_fb.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Shonda Rhimes Hates Being Asked How She Writes Strong Female Characters ## Video: FIRSTS Shonda Rhimes [Watch (HLS stream): FIRSTS Shonda Rhimes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/00ANn7Md.m3u8) (3:11)  _Published 2017-09-02. Shonda Rhimes is the FIRST woman to create three hit shows with more than 100 episodes each._ by [Ruth Kinane / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Ruth Kinane / Entertainment Weekly Sep 9, 2017 11:00 AM UTC  by [Ruth Kinane / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Ruth Kinane / Entertainment Weekly Sep 9, 2017 11:00 AM UTC Shonda Rhimes is known for her feisty female characters, but if there’s one thing she hates being asked about is where the inspiration for them originated. Rhimes, the first woman to create three hit shows with more than 100 episodes each, sat down to discuss her experience of being a woman in the television industry for [TIME _Firsts_](http://ew.com/tv/2017/08/17/watch-the-trailer-for-firsts-times-new-video-series-on-45-groundbreaking-women/) — a Time Inc. multimedia initiative that champions female accomplishment through candid interviews with groundbreaking women, including Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, Aretha Franklin and, of course, Rhimes herself. “Every time someone says, ‘How do you write such smart, strong women?’ I find it appalling because it suggests that there are stupid, weak women and that’s who is generally out there,” says the creator of _Grey’s Anatomy_, _Scandal_, and _How to Get Away With Murder_. The uber-producer goes on to describe her experience in what she coins the “old white men room” where she and her producing partner, Betsy Beers, were warned no one would like the lead characters of _Grey’s_ because they weren’t “nice” and because “no one is going to like a woman who sleeps with a man right before her first day at work,” à la Meredith in the series’ pilot episode. “I hear a lot that what’s great about the characters is that they’re unapologetic,” says Rhimes. “I think that women are raised to believe that they’re supposed to want certain things and so you feel like you’re supposed to apologize when you don’t want those things.” For Rhimes, the key difference between men and women is a confident attitude. “Men will do anything,” regardless of their qualifications, she says, while women are more hesitant and thoughtful. “I don’t necessarily know if there’s anything wrong with being more cautious and careful, but I also know that we’re not going to feel any wiser or any more ready in 10 years than we did 10 years ago, so we might as well just leap.” Watch the clip above. _Rhimes’ interview is part of_ [_TIME Firsts_](http://time.com/firsts)_, a multimedia project featuring 46 groundbreaking women. Watch the rest of the videos at_ [_Time.com/Firsts_](http://time.com/Firsts)_. Buy the book at the_ [_TIME Shop_](https://shop.time.com/storefront/?utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fsource=ew.com&utm%5Fcampaign=time-firsts&link=1032687&fpa%5Foc=TIME+Shop+Promotion)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4934116/shonda-rhimes-female-characters-firsts/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4934116/shonda-rhimes-female-characters-firsts/"},"headline":"Shonda Rhimes Hates Being Asked How She Writes Strong Female Characters","datePublished":"2017-09-09T11:00:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:44:50.400Z","description":"'I find it appalling because it suggests that there are stupid, weak women'","url":"https://time.com/4934116/shonda-rhimes-female-characters-firsts/","keywords":["motto","shonda rhimes","Firsts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95cfb778cf715983/6988dcef096a942b2d69f7df/shonda-rhimes_luisa-dorr-time-firsts-2017_fb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ruth Kinane / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95cfb778cf715983/6988dcef096a942b2d69f7df/shonda-rhimes_luisa-dorr-time-firsts-2017_fb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Shonda-Rhimes_luisa-dorr-time-firsts-2017_FB","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4934116/shonda-rhimes-female-characters-firsts/","name":"Shonda Rhimes Hates Being Asked How She Writes Strong Female Characters"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"FIRSTS Shonda Rhimes","description":"Shonda Rhimes is the FIRST woman to create three hit shows with more than 100 episodes each.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/00ANn7Md/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-09-02T02:39:35.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/00ANn7Md.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4934116/shonda-rhimes-female-characters-firsts/","duration":"PT3M11S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4934116/shonda-rhimes-female-characters-firsts/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```