MONDO EXTRAS

Now, how did you get involved with Grosse Pointe? Did you know Darren Star before?
Yes, actually. Darren and I had met socially. I was at this party and Darren was there, and this was at the height of Melrose, and I was a Melrose Place freak, and I just sort of glommed onto him! We didn't really become friends then, but we ran into each other a short time later and we just started hanging out and we really became friends. And we were friends for about two years and then started giving each other things that we were working on, and we started exchanging ideas and giving each other our opinions and stuff. So, when Grosse Pointe came around and Darren started working on it, he was kind of talking to me about it. And he mentioned that it was sort of a behind-the-scenes of 90210; sort of Larry Sanders in tone. The one-liner that he gave me about the show was that the behind-the-scenes of the "show" was more like high school than the "show" about high school. And I immediately got it; I just loved it. He's just so brilliant.

You know, the thing is, not many people on this planet can create three hit shows in one career. Darren's just brilliant at conceptualizing and he's such a fabulous producer. So, anyway, when he was working on the Grosse Pointe pilot, I happened to be free and he got kind of stuck. He was having trouble remembering some of the ideas he'd had about the show and I remembered things that he had said to me a year earlier and I just started reminding him of the things he'd said. So it wound up that I sort of unofficially worked on the pilot with him. And when it got picked up, he asked me if I'd be willing to executive produce the show and I just jumped at the chance.

And working on that show, it just...you know, it improved me in every single way. Even though we didn't have much of an audience, it was really just a boost to my career -- I truly think it extended my career. I feel like I contributed a lot, but I also learned an enormous amount. And I feel like I learned an enormous amount from Darren.

That's so great. What an awesome relationship to have, you know? Okay...let's see...oh! Um, I was just talking to a friend of mine who asked who you were and what you'd done, and I told her that you'd written Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, and she was really excited about that. I mean, everyone I've told about you and about this interview just loves the idea that you wrote that movie, because everyone just loves that movie.
Yeah, I just got such a...I was really happy with how that turned out. We had such a great cast. It accomplished everything I wanted it to accomplish.