If You've Always Wanted To Direct A Shondaland Show, Read This

If you’ve ever wondered how Scandal always managed to frame Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) just so or felt ultra inspired by Grey’s Anatomy actively seeking out women direct, today is your lucky day. The magical world of Shondaland will be opening up its set for one lucky up-and-coming director.

The Shonda Rhimes production company has announced a major partnership with SeriesFest, a TV-focused non-profit organization with an annual festival in Denver, called the Women Directing Mentorship. The winner of the woman director-focused mentorship will then shadow a director on a Shondaland production. It’s unclear which Shondaland series will be chosen to host the Mentorship's winner, but there are a lot of exciting possibilities. While ABC hasn’t officially picked up Grey’s Anatomy season 16, star Ellen Pompeo’s contract does have her signed on for the 2019-2020 season. Plus, there Rhimes’ sprawling slate of upcoming Netflix shows, which includes the streaming services' very buzzy take on the Anna Delvey scandal.

“Shondaland has long been known to defy industry standards through dynamic female characters, but we have also always felt it was important to have equal representation behind the camera,” Rhimes said while speaking about the upcoming initiative. “To have talent and sets that reflect the world we live in has always seemed natural.”

You can apply for the SeriesFest’s mentorship, which is part of their established Featuring Women platform, right now (and right here) and submissions will close on March 4, 2019. The lucky winner will be announced during SeriesFest 2019, which will run from Friday, June 21 through the 26. Then they'll be invited to set within a year of winning.

We would say good luck, but you've got this handled like a gladiator.