[FULLY BOOKED] Bridgerton: In-Person Screening and Q&A with Shonda Rhimes, Cast and Creative Team

WFTV members are invited to this very special screening of Netflix's Bridgerton, Season Three, Part Two, with a Q&A with Shonda Rhimes, Cast and Creative Team.

Shonda Rhimes (Creator, Showrunner, Executive Producer), Jess Brownell (Showrunner), Betsy Beers (Executive Producer), Claudia Jessie (Actor), Erika Ökvist (Hair and Makeup Designer), George Sayer (Assistant Costume Designer) will be in conversation with host Janicza Bravo to discuss the upcoming season.

There will be a lunch reception for members to meet one another prior to the screening and Q&A.

This event is for existing WFTV members only. Please note members can only book one place for this event, unfortunately we are unable to allocate plus ones on this occassion.

We are operating a wait list for this event - please email admin@wftv.org.uk to add your name to the list.

Date: Thursday 13th June

Location: Regent Street Cinema | 307 Regent Street | London | W1B 2HW

Event Schedule:

12:00: Guest Arrivals and Lunch Reception

13:00: Screening & Q&A with Shonda Rhimes (Creator, Showrunner, Executive Producer), Jess Brownell (Showrunner), Betsy Beers (Executive Producer), Claudia Jessie (Actor), Erika Ökvist (Hair and Makeup Designer), George Sayer (Assistant Costume Designer).

Synopsis of Bridgerton

From Shondaland and new showrunner Jess Brownell, Bridgerton returns for its third season. Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) has moved on from her crush on Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and is now determined to find a husband who allows her independence to maintain her secret life as Lady Whistledown. However, her lack of confidence leads to failed attempts to attract a suitor. Colin, returning with renewed confidence, is disheartened by Penelope's coldness and offers to mentor her in building self-assurance. As his lessons succeed, Colin begins to question if his feelings are purely platonic. Meanwhile, Penelope's falling out with Eloise (Claudia Jessie) and her increasing visibility in society threaten to expose her secret identity.

Shonda Rhimes, Creator, Showrunner, Executive Producer

Shonda is an award-winning television creator, producer and author. She is also the CEO of Shondaland, the global media company that encompasses brand partnerships, merchandise, theatrical and streaming content and a digital division.

In 2017, Rhimes shifted the entertainment industry’s business model when she left network television and brokered an unprecedented agreement for Shondaland to produce streaming content exclusively in partnership with Netflix. Rhimes has also scripted the limited series “Inventing Anna” based on the popular New York Magazine article about the fake German heiress, Anna Delvey. Rhimes is also the executive producer of “Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker,” a documentary highlighting the dance school created by legendary  choreographer Debbie Allen, as well as the writer and executive producer of the “Bridgerton” spin-off series “Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story”. Rhimes is the first woman to create three television dramas that have achieved the 100 episode milestone. Those shows,  “Grey’s Anatomy,” the longest-running medical drama in history, its spinoff “Private Practice,” and the groundbreaking series “Scandal” for ABC. Shondaland continued to make history with “How to Get Away with Murder” for which star Viola Davis became the first black woman to receive a Best Actress in a Drama Emmy.

Rhimes is the recipient of numerous awards including the Peabody Award, career achievement awards from the Writers Guild of America, Producers Guild of America and Director’s Guild of America, several AFI Awards for Television Program of the Year and NAACP Image Awards.  She has also received honors from Planned Parenthood, Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD and The Feminist Majority as well as the Harvard Medal.  She has been included on the TIME 100 list of most influential people three times as well as Fortune Magazines “50 Most Powerful Women in Business.”  In 2018, Rhimes was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.

She is the author of the 2015 New York Times best-seller “Year of Yes” which in 2021 was featured as a custom program as part of the popular Peloton fitness brand.

In 2016, Rhimes formed The Rhimes Foundation whose mission is to support arts, education, and activism. She also holds a BA from Dartmouth College and an MFA from the USC School of Cinema-Television. She’s also received honorary PhDs from both institutions.

Jess Brownell, Showrunner

13-year Shondaland veteran writer/producer Jess Brownell has worked on several Shondaland series, including Bridgerton seasons 1 and 2, and the highly anticipated upcoming series Inventing Anna. Additionally, Brownell co-hosted Shondaland Audio’s “Bridgerton: The Official Podcast”, giving fans more insight into the makings of the reimagined world. Most recently Jess has served as a writer on Bridgerton S1, writer/producer on Bridgerton S2, and writer/producer on Inventing Anna. Notably, Brownell was a staff writer on Scandal.  She is a graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

Betsy Beers, Executive Producer

Betsy is a groundbreaking producer and the longtime producing partner of Shonda Rhimes. Under the Shondaland banner, they have developed and produced some of the most industry-leading series in television. Through Shondaland’s unprecedented exclusive deal with Netflix, Beers serves as executive producer on Bridgerton, one of the most watched series debuts in Netflix history, Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker following legendary choreographer Debbie Allen, Inventing Anna inspired by the story of Anna Delvey, and most recently, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story which debuted at No.1 on Netflix's English TV List and in the Top 10 in 91 countries.

In addition, she is executive producer of the award-winning series Grey’s Anatomy and, along with Rhimes, developed and produced the hit series Private Practice, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, For the People, and Station 19 for Shondaland and ABC.

Claudia Jessie, Actor

Claudia Jessie is an English actress, best known for her role as series regular Eloise Bridgerton in hit Netflix period drama ‘Bridgerton’. Prior to this, Claudia played Amelia, opposite Olivia Cooke, in ITV/Amazon series ‘Vanity Fair’, Nessa in BBC Two’s ‘Defending the Guilty’, and DC Jodi Taylor in season 4 of the BBC’s award winning ‘Line of Duty’. She has also had roles in BAFTA-winning ‘Call the Midwife’, Channel 4/Netflix’s ‘Lovesick’, Josh Widdicombe’s BBC Three sitcom ‘Josh’, and ‘Doctor Who’.

Erika Ökvist, Hair and Makeup Designer

Erika is an award-winning Hair, Make-up, and Prosthetic Designer with a career of over 21 years. She has been nominated for and received many awards, such as a Primetime Emmy, Hollywood Make-Up and Hair Artist Guild Award, RTS, and BAFTA Craft Awards.

One of her earliest notable designs was PARADE’S END for Mammoth Screen and HBO, from which she received her first nomination for Best Make-up/Hairstyling in a non-series at the 2013 Online Film & Television Association Television Awards. In 2017, Erika won an RTS Craft Award for Best Make-up Design in Drama and a BAFTA Craft for Best Make-Up & Hair Design in 2018 for her work in TABOO starring Tom Hardy and Oona Chaplin.

After TABOO, she went on to work on many exciting series such as BLACK EARTH RISING with director Hugo Blick, and Netflix’s CURSED starring Katherine Langford. In 2022, she designed BRIDGERTON S2. Her sterling work on the series won her an Emmy for Outstanding Period and/or Character Hairstyling and International Film & TV Hairdresser of the Year by International Hairdressing Awards.She returned in 2023 to design the third series.

Her other notable TV credits include ROOK for Lionsgate and Starz with director Kari Skogland, Peter Kosminsky’s mini-series THE STATE, Pete Travis’ THE GO-BETWEEN with Vanessa Redgrave and Jim Broadbent, TYRANT for Fox Network, 24: LIVE ANOTHER DAY also for Fox and MR. SELFRIDGE for ITV.

Her feature credits include AMAZON ADVENTURE starring Calum Finlay with director Mike Slee for SK Films, CAPTAIN WEBB with Justin Hardy, IN SECRET with director Charlie Stratton and starring Elisabeth Olsen and Oscar Isaac and DEMENTAMANIA with director Kit Ryan.

George Sayer, Assistant Costume Designer

George is an Assistant Costume Designer, who loved working alongside John Glaser on principal women's wear for Season Three. Coming from a fashion MA background, she enjoys both traditional Period work and mixing up fabrics and styles with more contemporary references ranging from 1930s to the modern catwalk. The Regency fantasy of Bridgerton is the perfect place for this. Other recent productions George has worked on include: The Terror (S1) Bridgerton (S1), The Great (S1), Dr Strange & The Multiverse of Madness & BAFTA winning ‘Poor Things’. George is currently enjoying working on both principal & crowd prep for season four.

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