Episode 43: The Rich Inner Life of Penelope Cloud, Written by Jeff Greenstein (Will & Grace, Parenthood, Desperate Housewives)

Episode notes

This month’s dead pilot is over ten years in the making. It’s called The Rich Inner Life of Penelope Cloud and was written by Jeff Greenstein (Will & Grace, Parenthood, Desperate Housewives). The story centers around Penelope Cloud, a woman who who has been struggling for 15 years to deliver the follow-up to her celebrated first novel. In that time, she’s become dependent on a cocktail of anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications to get through the day. The story begins when Penelope, desperate to unblock herself, decides to go off all her meds at once and rejoin her life, already in progress. Andrew sat down with Jeff to talk about the ups and downs of developing this project for over ten years. From shooting a pilot for CBS starring Marisa Tomei, to writing six episodes of it for Amazon that were ultimately passed on after a heated back and forth. Jeff also talks about his experience staffing on shows like Friends, Desperate Housewives, and Will & Grace, and his path into becoming a sought-after television director. It was a colorful and at times emotional conversation about a pilot that was really put through the ringer. Enjoy!

The Rich Inner Life of Penelope Cloud stars Michaela Watkins as Penelope Cloud, Jon Cryer as Dr. Birkin/Passenger/Student, Mary McCormack as Eva, Daniel David Stewart as Ivy, Malcolm Barrett as Claude, Nichole Bloom as Geogia/Counselor, Felicia Day as Kendall, Navid Neghaban as Dr. Hakim, Kelsy Sandoval as Adoración, and Andrew Reich with stage directions.

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