Amy Brenneman, Daphne Rubin-Vega and Jessica Hecht are gathering at New York City's "Ultra Lounge" on April 24th for a special First Wives World live reading of the wildly-popular Internet blog "Hot Flashes," a funny, sometimes risqué, but compassionate look at women in the middle of their lives. Already one of the hottest and most controversial Hollywood properties, "Hot Flashes" is the creation of veteran TV writer/producer Mimi Schmir (Grey's Anatomy, Felicity, Party of Five). The acclaimed actresses will take turns bringing "Hot Flashes" to life in the role of Esme.
Now in its 19th episode exclusively at www.firstwivesworld.com, the hysterically funny and smart serial follows modern day heroine Esme, a feisty, pre-menopausal mom in her late 40s, as she moves forward with her life post-divorce after her husband leaves for a younger woman. In recent episodes, Esme has discovered her ex-husband spent over $100,000 on prostitutes (Episode 17: Elliot Spitzer Stupid); revealed the news – out of concern -- to her husband's current lover, who is Esme's ex-best friend (Episode 18: Missionary Position); and described in delicious detail, her romantic first date with handsome HBPD – i.e. "hot birthday party dad" (Episode 19: How To Dress Your Age).
Danielle Montalbano, Head of First Wives World Productions, said, "The event marks a new approach to television packaging; using the web as a platform to engage potential viewers and excite development executives. 'Hot Flashes' is one of four projects currently being developed for First Wives World's "featured entertainment" division. First Wives World.com wraps its arms around the over 30 million divorced women in the United States, providing advice, entertainment, and social networking for every woman, at every stage of divorce."
"Hot Flashes" is a perfect fit for the web, venturing into a subject area that has yet to be explored on television: Menopause as mid-life reinvention. Now the primetime world will sit up and pay attention to the women who control the pocketbooks of the American Family.
19 episodes of "Hot Flashes" have already been posted on www.firstwivesworld.com, and from the comments it's receiving the audience is wild about them. The site is the first-of-its-kind designed for divorced women of all ages, offering dedicated community, cutting-edge resources and information, and relevant video programming and entertainment.
Paul Lambert and Jonas Neilson, two of the founders of First Wives World, reveal that they were were looking for something fresh, edgy and smart when Mosaic talent agent Ann Blanchard pitched Mimi Schmir's brilliant concept. "The web today is a creative incubator for new entertainment properties finding an audience. 'Hot Flashes' works on so many levels and is building a huge following."
Neilson and Lambert are also the producers who re-united Holland Dozier Holland to join book writer
Rupert Holmes and director Francesca Zambello to create The First Wives Club Musical, which is now headed to Broadway.
Mimi Schmir, the award-winning television writer and producer who created "Hot Flashes," tackles the subject of menopause head on, noting: "no one wants to talk about it, right? We can talk about sex. Sex is hot. Sex is cool. Sex means we're still…sexy. Or at least functional. Cause one of the dirty little secrets about menopause – not so functional any more. 'Hot Flashes' speaks to mid-life as a time of looking forward, not backwards and as a way of embracing the future with passion and conviction, whatever that future may bring. It seems particularly fitting that the internet, where so many feel the future of entertainment lies, would be the place where 'Hot Flashes' initially found its first home."
MIMI SCHMIR has been a television writer and producer in Los Angeles for over ten years. Her credits include the ABC television movie "Trapped in a Purple Haze" about teen heroin addiction in the suburbs, as well as multiple episodes as a writer and producer on the series "Sweet Justice," HBO's "Strangers," "Promised Land," "Felicity," "Party of Five" and "Grey's Anatomy," for which she won a Writer's Guild Award and was nominated for both Golden Globe and Emmy Awards. Her Grey's Anatomy episode "Save Me," which explores the issue of breast cancer and pregnancy was nominated for an Environmental Media Award in 2005, and her episode "Let It Be," about the BRCA gene and prophylactic surgery was honored at the 2006 Sentinel for Health Awards.
Mimi was most recently a Consulting Producer on the CBS drama "Shark," starring
James Woods. She has written pilot scripts for Universal Television and Warner Brothers and currently has a project in development at Sony Television Studios. Originally from New Haven, Connecticut, she is a graduate of Harvard University, is married to the writer/producer Gary Glasberg and is the mother of two young boys.
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