Kerry Washington Tells Us What Thursday Nights in Shondaland Are Really Like

If you follow any members of the Scandal cast on Twitter, then you know that their Thursday night live-tweeting game is the best in the business. InStyle Editorial Director Ariel Foxman asked Kerry Washington to dish on their strategy in an exclusive panel during Austin's South by Southwest festival. "Thursday nights are intense," said Washington. "Shonda [Rhimes] has always been very active on social media and we are committed to this community."

For the hour-long live-tweeting marathons, a clear schedule is a must for Washington. "If I see that I have a really hard scene scheduled to shoot on a Thursday evening, I'll say, 'Are you kidding me? We can't do this scene on a Thursday. I'll be tweeting!'" she says.

In fact, before Scandal's pilot even aired, Washington read an article about the most-tweeted-about shows on TV and made a pact to be on that list within the year. "I told Shonda that in order to make that happen we would have to get the whole cast to do it. But I didn't want to be the bossy star of the show, so I very much Olivia Pope-d it. I emailed Shonds and asked her to involve them," Washington recalled. "I said, 'You're the boss, so if you ask them, they'll say yes because they feel like they have to.' I've had people like Oprah tell me that they only reason they started watching was because Scandal is all people can talk about on Twitter on Thursday nights. There's no way we would be in our fifth season now if it weren't for social media."

Catch Scandal on Thursday nights at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.