With three hit shows on the air - Grey's Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder - Shonda Rhimes is unquestionably the most successful producer of dramatic television working today.
And now she's applying her Midas touch to a new series, naturally centred around a group of intelligent and attractive young professional men and women working in a high-stakes environment.
Created by long-time Scandal writer Paul William Davies and executive produced by Rhimes, For the People is a legal drama based around the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Known colloquially as The Mother Court, this is where the most high-profile federal cases are argued. It's the bleeding edge of American justice.
The setting is ripe for plenty of drama, which is the main criteria for any show made by Shondaland, Rhimes' production company.
"For Shondaland, we have a rule," explains Rhimes. "Which is, we want stories that we want to watch, period. They have to be something that is interesting to us and that we think is compelling and that we're going to want to watch. And we have learned that we better want to watch them for 100 episodes or so because things seem to last. So, to us, it has to be something compelling and something that we think has a long life."
Whereas most legal dramas tend to fall on one side of the process, typically the defence, For the People sets itself apart by placing equal emphasis on the prosecutors (the district attorneys) and the public defenders.
"It's a challenge," Davies says of encompassing both sides of the legal battles that play out. "But I also think of it as an opportunity because it expands the storytelling. We're able to hit stories from all these different angles. Every week you're not asking if the defence is going to win or lose, and having to play the story and the emotions on that side, because there's a whole other side to it. It's exciting because there are so many opportunities to tell stories in a different way."
Shonda Rhimes already has three hit series on-air, including Grey's Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder.
Davies used to be a lawyer, and while every effort has been taken to ensure For the People accurately represents the legal process, Davies admits to taking some liberties.
"There's certainly liberties taken in the sense that things are going to trial in a time frame that is slightly preposterous. That said, one of the things that I really set out to do with the show is to try to make it as real as possible, 'real' within the confines of television. You wouldn't want to watch a show that depicted a real trial. It would be deathly boring. It's the reason I'm a writer of TV shows and not a lawyer anymore because it's not fun to be a lawyer."
Britt Robertson (Girlboss, Tomorrowland) leads the cast of For the People as idealistic public defender Sandra Bell.
"There are lots of types of people in the world," says Robertson. "And Sandra represents this person who is very adamant about doing right by her clients. She's put in this incredible position where people's lives are in the palm of her hand. One of the reasons I love her so much is she's not that concerned with herself. It's about her doing right by her client, regardless of how she feels about that person. Maybe they've done something that she might disagree with, sure, but that's not a part of her job. It's not to judge that person; it's just to do her job by giving them a fair trial."
Robertson has spent the majority of her career playing characters who are either older or younger than her 27 years. For the People stands out in her filmography as it's the first time she's playing a character her own age.
"It's very satisfying. But I think it's a tactic that I've used so that I don't age, because I hear, once you age, you're not allowed to act anymore. So I'm just trying to keep going back and forth between being young and then older, and then young and then older. But right now, I'm having a very good time playing someone that is, yes, 27. At 27, I am just on the brink of not being able to be an actor anymore. Kidding, hopefully."
LOWDOWN: What: For the People Where: Streaming now on TVNZ OnDemand
