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Grey's Anatomy Pilot: A Hard Day's Night

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Online script at Simply Scripts.

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About the author

Shonda Rhimes

11 books2,435 followers
In this poignant, hilarious, and deeply intimate call to arms, Hollywood’s most powerful woman, the mega-talented creator of Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal and executive producer of How to Get Away with Murder reveals how saying YES changed her life—and how it can change yours too.

She’s the creator and producer of some of the most groundbreaking and audacious shows on television today: Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder. Her iconic characters—Meredith Grey, Cristina Yang, Olivia Pope, Annalise Keating—live boldly and speak their minds. So who would suspect that Shonda Rhimes, the mega talent who owns Thursday night television (#TGIT), is an introvert? That she hired a publicist so she could avoid public appearances? That she hugged walls at splashy parties and suffered panic attacks before media interviews so severe she remembered nothing afterward?

Before her Year of Yes, Shonda Rhimes was an expert at declining invitations others would leap to accept. With three children at home and three hit television shows on TV, it was easy to say that she was simply too busy. But in truth, she was also afraid. Afraid of cocktail party faux pas like chucking a chicken bone across a room; petrified of live television appearances where Shonda Rhimes could trip and fall and bleed out right there in front of a live studio audience; terrified of the difficult conversations that came so easily to her characters on-screen. In the before, Shonda’s introvert life revolved around burying herself in work, snuggling her children, and comforting herself with food.

And then, on Thanksgiving 2013, Shonda’s sister muttered something that was both a wake up and a call to arms: You never say yes to anything.

The comment sat like a grenade, until it detonated. Then Shonda, the youngest of six children from a supremely competitive family, knew she had to embrace the challenge: for one year, she would say YES to everything that scared her.

This poignant, intimate, and hilarious memoir explores Shonda’s life before her Year of Yes—from her nerdy, book-loving childhood creating imaginary friends to her devotion to creating television characters who reflected the world she saw around her (like Cristina Yang, whose ultimate goal wasn’t marriage, and Cyrus Beene, who is a Republican and gay). And it chronicles her life after her Year of Yes had begun—when Shonda forced herself out of the house and onto the stage, appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and giving the Dartmouth Commencement speech; when she learned to say yes to her health, yes to play and she stepped out of the shadows and into the sun; when she learned to explore, empower, applaud, and love her truest self. Yes.

This wildly candid and compulsively readable book reveals how the mega talented Shonda Rhimes, an unexpected introvert, achieved badassery worthy of a Shondaland character. And how you can, too.

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Community Reviews

5 stars
47 (65%)
4 stars
14 (19%)
3 stars
6 (8%)
2 stars
2 (2%)
1 star
3 (4%)
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
Profile Image for Chanel.
5 reviews1 follower
January 8, 2016
Of course I wasn't gonna give this one less than 5 stars. I mean, it's the pilot of Grey's Anatomy. A show that was only supposed to be a mid-season replacement for another show and now is in its 12th season! No doubt the pilot was amazingly written. The way Shonda Rhimes introduces the characters of which most will become iconic series characters is just perfect. She even managed to establish some of the most important quotes of the show's 11 year long (and counting) history. Such as Miranda Bailey's '5 rules' speech or Chief Webber's introductory speech for the new interns.
The script of this show is without a doubt witty, funny, entertaining and dramatic. No wonder that from that episode on people couldn't stop watching the show and helped make this little mid-season replacement to one of the longest-running drama series in TV history.
1 review
May 11, 2016
I really like this book its about one of my favorite t,v shows
Profile Image for Alannah Riggs.
17 reviews
April 25, 2021
I mean it’s greys why can’t I rate it 5 stars. It’s great reading the first script, mirroring all the scenes and seeing the slight changes and descriptions that are different. It’s amazing to read.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews