Elisabeth Finch (photographed by Austin Hargrave in Topanga)
Hello from rainy L.A.! Some quick housekeeping: Our next installment of The Squeeze series — this one about writers — hits tomorrow, in a piece by Nicole LaPorte. Her first piece on producers struck a raw nerve based on the huge reaction we received; we expect tomorrow’s detail-filled piece covering the financial toll being taken on the town’s scribes — filled with on-the-record stories — to do the same. Remember, The Squeeze series is for paid subscribers only.
Meanwhile, our most-read story in Ankler history came this week via the saga of Elisabeth Finch, the disgraced Grey’s Anatomy writer, whose first interview from exile, with contributor Peter Kiefer, is a wild, unsettling narrative about why she lied over and over, the dysfunctional dynamic inside the hit show’s writers’ room, her relationship with Shonda Rhimes, and the staggering full extent of a nearly decade-long deceit involving cancer, a hate crime, a fake abortion and a suicide. The interview made headlines around the world, from the Daily Mail to CNN to Vulture to NBC News.
Richard’s The Ankler 100: Part 1! The Lows of 2022 saluted the moments of the year past that we'd like to forget. Part 2 — the grand finale of ignominious events — will land in your inboxes on Tuesday. Who will wear the worst-of crown of the year? Stay tuned!
Entertainment Strategy Guy pivoted away from the all-consuming conversation around subscribers and advertising to look at what Reed Hastings calls the “third pillar” of his business. Will it work? ESG analyzes potential outcomes in Netflix & Video Games: Glitch or Goldmine?
Back in March, Peter Kiefer first broke the story about Disney placing Elisabeth Finch on leave from Grey’s Anatomy. This piece would lead to Kiefer’s months-long pursuit of an interview, and revealed for the first time the news that one of the biggest cons in Hollywood history, from one one its biggest TV writers, had happened right under its nose. Prophetically, Kiefer notes that Finch, at one Grey’s junket, described a character she wrote who has secrets “she has no one to tell.”
When Elisabeth Finch joined Grey’s Anatomy in 2014, Shonda Rhimes, the creator of a show that regularly takes events from real life and spins them into fictional storylines, got more than just a writer. In addition to her resume that included stints on…
