Kerry Washington's move to turn producer is no 'Scandal'

We all recognize  Kerry Washington as the lead of the ABC's widely popular thriller series 'Scandal'. But if a recent report by Vanity  is to be believed, the actress is now slowly shifting her focus to production. Earlier this year, she took on the mantle of executive producer apart from starring the HBO’s series Confirmation. And taking a step further in that direction, she has signed a two-year deal with ABC Studios, which involves her coming on board as producer as well. Kerry Washington now joins the few women in Hollywood who have turned producers such as actress Reese Witherspoon and Joanne Froggatt (who stars in the popular show Downton Abbey).

Kerry is currently busy developing a thriller drama as a producer with ABC called Patrol. This is a woman-centric series plot which revolves around the lives of four female officers who were classmates at the police academy, and who re-unite “after a high-stakes, traumatic secret returns to haunt them,” as per the Variety report. However, Kerry won't be seen starring in the series.

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About her move into production, Washington was quoted as saying to ABC, “I believe strongly in the importance of having a seat at the table, which makes starting this production company thrilling for me. It’s an honor to be at a point in my career when I can help generate projects that that are exciting, necessary and truly reflect the world around us.”

A recent survey by The Guardian analyzed the gender diversity of four important behind-the-scenes roles on the latest seasons of the shows nominated for Best Drama, Best Comedy and Best Limited Series: Director, Writer, Cinematographer, and Editor. The results of this analysis was pretty shocking, Women directed just 30.4% of episodes and earned just 23.2% of writing credits, 7.1% of cinematography credits and 34.3% of editing credits for the nominated shows.

Also read: Why Jennifer Aniston is ‘fed up’

And it's only when women like Kerry Washington take the initiative of going behind the scenes that these numbers will improve.

Feature Image Credit: Vanityfair