People in Glass Houses Shouldn't Be...

My friends Lara Azzopardi and Julia Cohen's pilot is airing on the CBC:

Throwing Stones is a half-hour drama (with a healthy dose of comedy), about the lives of five remarkable working class women who belong to a local curling club in Winnipeg. Starring Academy Award winner Patty Duke, Lolita Davidovich, Caroline Neron, Barbara Radecki and Stephanie Anne Mills, directed by Mario Azzopardi (ZOS: Zone of Separation), written by Lara Azzopardi and Julia Cohen. Produced by Original Pictures and Curling Productions. Airing Wednesday, July 15th, at 9pm EST.

Great cast! Alas, it didn't get picked up. But it sure looks like fun.

For bonus points, analyze what you think did or didn't work, in the comments.

[Note: the original press release said "July 1." Bad, bad, Lara.]

Future Famous People

J. Kelly Nestruck, who (full disclosure) was kind enough to interview me for the National Post last September, bemoans how he failed to make friends with all the future famous musicians he bumped into in his college years.

I can dig it. I was way too cool to try to make actual friends with Jodie Foster at Yale, even though we went to the same parties and took the same Psych class. Of course, she was already a certified Famous Person -- her stalker shot the President! -- and one would have felt like a rube to try to chat her up.

I hear her freshman year was awful.

Amazingly, I ran into her years later at a premiere, and she seemed to remember who I was. I suspect this has more to do with Jodie being really smart than my being particularly memorable.

Jenny Beals lived off campus, so I don't think I ever even saw her.

Had I known where I was headed, I might also have tried to make friends with Jenny Goldman (her father's some sort of screenwriter) at Dalton. But probably not, because I had a massive crush on her, therefore would not have been able to talk to her. Her yearbook photo was nearly nixed because it was way too sexy. She was in a jumpsuit, showing only her ankles.

Weirdly, she is writing screenplays in Philadelphia. Has been for years. Long before Philadelphia became the new Hoboken.

According to Kelly, the moral is: befriend those with talent. Even if they have sexy ankles.