ALL Ellen Pompeo Pictures Interviews and videos from the "Welcome To ShondaLand: An Evening With Shonda Rhimes & Friends" Monday April 2, 2012. Ellen Pompeo stole the show... she was flawless and amazing, very funny and emotional, told good stories and interesting things about Grey's, how she started before Grey's and about Shondaland at the "an evening with shonda rhimes & friends" She looked amazing and one of the highlights of the evening as seen on twitter, was her laugh & giggle. :) ... @ellenprocks http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000681071528 Actress Ellen Pompeo attends The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Presents "Welcome To ShondaLand: An Evening With Shonda Rhimes & Friends" at the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre on April 2, 2012 in North Hollywood, California. All Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.377699105596122.94696.100000681071528&type=1 All Videos: The Panel Interviews all here http://www.youtube.com/user/CourtneyMinton15/videos?view=0 thanks to https://twitter.com/#!/courtneyminton Red Carpet Interviews & Autographs videos: 1. http://uk.eonline.com/videos/ellen-pompeo-spills-on-greys-writer/181463 2. http://www.emmys.com/articles/video-shonda-rhimes-greys-anatomy-private-scandal?bcpid=1543556803001&bckey=AQ~~,AAAABbOxgNk~,vlFmFnpxRTDH82fqxBzQBxmcikExc0dk&bclid=1543569114001&bctid=1544408295001 3. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/video/2012/04/03/video-a-few-minutes-with-greys-anatomy-co-star-ellen-pompeo-992005/20120403_pompeo/ 4. http://highlycollectibleautographs.blogspot.com/2012/04/ellen-pompeo-kadee-strickland-tony.html?spref=tw Interviews and spoilers: 1. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/greys-anatomy-spoilers-meredith-cristina-owen-boards-307156 2. http://www.tvguide.com/News/Greys-Anatomy-Finale-Shonda-Rhimes-1045565.aspx 3. http://uk.eonline.com/news/watch_with_kristin/greys_anatomy_private_practice_scandal/305945?cmpid=sn-000000-twitterfeed-365-kristin&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=twitterfeed_kristin&dlvrit=51396 The Panel Highlights: http://shli1117.tumblr.com/post/20394733419/shondaland-q-a-highlights-greys-focus Shondaland Q&A Highlights (Grey’s Focus) Tonight, there was a Q&A with some of the actors from Shonda’s shows (Scandal, Grey’s Anatomy, and Private Practice). Since I only watch Grey’s Anatomy, here are some highlights from Shonda, Ellen Pompeo, and Sandra Oh (with some minor fun facts about some of the other attendees) for those of you who couldn’t watch. Please don’t post this anywhere else without my permission as this took me a very long time to type up. Much appreciated. Grey’s Anatomy Ellen talks about how sometimes, Shonda writes things that are uncomfortable on the page – kinds of scenes that make you wonder if you are up to the task; but then you act out the scene, and you realize that Shonda sees something in you as an actor and brings it out. And sometimes, these are the best work you’ve done. Sandra comments about how everyone on set is really like a family. And it’s been an amazing experience to have been together for so long since television is getting shorter, and Grey’s is representing an end of an era of television in that its’ been for 8 years and still shoots on film. Sometimes, the actors will bring in things from their own lives (how they’re feeling, aggravations, etc.) to the scenes and do them in a way that it wasn’t exactly intended by the writers, and Shonda allows for that. Because it’s honest and real and how they’re feeling. But sometimes, Shonda will have them redo it if it really goes against what she envisioned, and the actors will because she is the boss and they have to. Shonda says that she rarely goes on set, but when she does, she gets inspiration for where the storylines will go by watching how the actors act out a scene. For example, the direction of Burke and Cristina relationship was inspired from how Cristina hands Burke coffee. Sandra says that Ellen and her keep each other going because they are very different people and have very different outlooks on life, but that allows them to keep each other in check and tell each other the other perspective. Shonda calls herself the chastity police because she goes to set rarely, but it’s usually wehn it’s super important or there is a really “dirty” (quote from Ellen) scene. While Ellen doesn’t necessarily want to know too much and is okay with not knowing what’s ahead, Sandra really likes knowing because it helps her prepare and make certain decisions. Sandra says that she loves playing with the current Cristina/Owen storyline because she loves working with Kevin McKidd. [paraphrased] “I’m so grateful for a rich storyline. Since Kevin McKidd and I have been working together for like … (Shonda, Ellen, and Sandra try to figure out how many seasons) four seasons. So the story where they are at with a difficult marriage with one member being unfaithful. It’s great because you can trace it back to a few seasons ago. You can see places where things were glossed over or decisions were made out of haste or other reasons. So it’s been great to play a storyline where a couple can go head to head where they are facing things they haven’t dealt with before. Hopefully, they’re going to a place that is truthful for both characters. And it’s not a simple solution, so they’re going to be in this for quite a bit.” Sandra teases about an upcoming scene [SPOILER ALERT!] where she is with William Daniels (Mr. Feeny from Boy Meets World), who plays a proctor, while the residents are taking their board exams. And the scenes is very reminiscent of vintage Cristina. The residents are all “graduating” this year, so Grey’s will get very nostalgic, especially with Meredith, Alex, and Cristina. Shonda doesn’t know if we will see the dream house. Three days ago, she would have said yes, but then this morning, she woke up with an idea and completely dismantled the season finale, which she is writing. So, she doesn’t know. Ellen gets choked up when talking about significant fan encounters because so many sick children (often cancer patients) watch the show and reach out to her and the cast, talking about how they like it and how it makes the hospital less scary for them. The actors are asked about their big breaks, and Ellen’s was Moonlight Mile. She was called in to audition as a favor to the casting director. While there, she happened to run into Jake on the sidewalk and they “made love” (Ellen’s words) with Jake telling her she’s the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen, not knowing they were both attached to the movie (he was an unknown at the time). A few days later, she came in to audition, and Jake and the rest of them were late, so she ducked down and hid so they wouldn’t know she’d been waiting for over an hour (not wanting it to be awkward) and didn’t realize it was him till she was in the room. And then, they looked at each other, and were like, “It’s you!” At that point, Amy Brenneman’s husband (who was directing) started filming them interact. And she got the part after that. Sandra’s big break was in The Diary of Evelyn Lau, which her sister found an ad for in a magazine and sent to Sandra. Kadee Strickland (Private Practice) jumps in after to comment how she loved Double Happiness, and it was a movie she used to watch to make herself feel better whenever she was sick. And how she was blown away by Sandra’s energy and performance. Then Ellen chimes in, saying how she remembers being in the room at Grey’s after everyone had been cast and looking at the photos. And the only person she recognized was Sandra Oh because she’d been a huge fan of Arliss. And she got excited knowing that she was going to be on the same show as her. Other Fun Tidbits Kerry Washington had a huge crush on Benny (Taye Diggs) from Rent, and the cast of Scandal does Rent on set. Tony Goldwyn, who is starring in Scandal, has directed episodes on both Grey’s and Private Practice. Taye Diggs’ big break was How Stella Got Her Groove Back, and when he went in to screen test with Angela Bassett, where he’s trying to be this really smooth and suave guy, he got nervous while acting with her. And he was reaching for a glass on the table, and his hands started shaking uncontrollably. But Angela noticed and took his hand and stroked it, covering up his nerves. (Taye used Sandra’s hand to demonstrate.) And he got the part. Shonda originally said no to Scandal, but because the inspiration was a friend of Betsy Beer’s (Judy Smith, who worked as a press aide for the George W. Bush administration), she took a 15 minute meeting as a formality. This turned into a 2.5 hours meeting, after which, Shonda was inspired to write 100 episodes about it. And decided to take this on. Katie Lowes’ reaction to getting the part on Scandal is captured on tape because they’d called her in for a screen test and told her that she wasn’t going to have one. But that she actually got the part. Shonda says it will be on the DVD. Kadee’s fan encounters are usually centered around her storyline on the show (her character was sexually assaulted). And so, women will come up to her and simply say, “Thank you.” Well, that’s all folks! Enjoy!