With Millennium's final season thankfully behind her, Reindl is enthusiastic about her and Maher's future projects - one in particular. "We're working on something with Shaun Cassidy and he is totally great and amazing," she confides. For those familiar with Cassidy only as the subject of a VH1 Where Are They Now? documentary, the former Hardy Boy has become an accomplished producer and writer who is best-known for the woefully short-lived 1995-96 television series American Gothic. He returned to the genre front in 1998 with a new pilot entitled Hollyweird, which was to be co-produced with Wes Craven and feature Bodhi Elfman in the lead role. The project was scrapped by Fox and was never heard from again-- that is, until now. "Last year, Shaun had a pilot for Fox called Hollyweird, which was just absolutely terrific. USA wants to do it as a cable movie and we're thrilled to be on it." Describing the film as "clever and fun", Reindl also noted that "Shaun's gone back to the original pilot idea and we're taking the characters and going from there. Bodhi Elfman was in it but I think it will have to be recast, mostly because the actors all have jobs now. I don't know when it will air or anything, but we can't wait to get started on the script!"

However, while Reindl is nothing but enthusiastic about the film itself, she feels that not much has changed since Cassidy's innovative program was rejected by the networks. "It seems like there's a lot of good stuff that just didn't make the schedule," she notes, referring to the fall TV season. "Morgan and Wong's pilot was heads and shoulders above anything else out there. Mark Frost had a terrific pilot for UPN called Forbidden Island and that was just amazing, and David Lynch's pilot, Mulholland Drive, was great. Truthfully, I'm just not very excited about the fall schedule and I'll spend even more time watching Nick at Nite."

Hollyweird is far from the only project in Reindl and Maher's future, and while her current foray into television is a far cry from Millennium, it may well cover territory just as horrifying: "We just took a job on Manchester Prep for Fox," the writer reveals. "The show is the TV version of [the recent film] Cruel Intentions and we're having a really good time. It's an entirely new way of working than we're used to, which is good experience for us. We really wanted something that was a departure from Millennium, since we had a lot of trouble convincing people we could write anything else. This is a common problem in the entertainment industry and we didn't want to be pigeonholed."

Reindl, whose other projects with Maher include a feature film that is "Wuthering Heights set in high school" and an as yet undeveloped pilot, is adamant about avoiding Hollywood typecasting. While she considers television a superior medium for writers, she greatly admires legendary writer/director Billy Wilder, and finds his ease with different genres notably lacking in today's industry. "[Wilder] does it all; drama, comedy, romance noir, satire. Everything. That's a diversity that we don't see too much anymore, unfortunately. Corporations are running Hollywood. Yes, it's a business, but there was a creative side to people like Sam Goldwyn, David Selznick and Darryl Zanuck. For better or worse they were decisive people who knew what they wanted. They didn't have to report back to the CEO and sit in endless and pointless meetings with a thousand executives, all too afraid to stick by their gut instincts, if they have them at all. Billy Wilder hasn't made a movie in decades, and who can blame him?"

Accordingly, Reindl finds that the attraction of an actor or writer lies in the quality of their work, irrespective of outside factors. When asked what inspires her work, she replies simply, "Really, really good writing! I really appreciate writers who can say more with less." She hopes this unbiased approach carries over into television as well, especially in terms of writing compelling female protagonists. "There are some instances where the female characters get slighted because men are trying to figure out how a woman would behave in a certain situation and they get it wrong. I think Scully was a groundbreaking character, at least for awhile, because she was treated as a professional who happened to be a woman. The problem is, networks seem scared of this type of role. They're used to selling the Baywatch-type. It's tough in both TV and film because both mediums are driven by the attraction of the male star. I don't know if it will ever be equal but it would be nice to pitch a female-driven story that has nothing to do with gender." Reindl sums up her feelings on this issue as such: "Personally, I like to consider men and women equals. Why not just write characters?"

The 11th Hour extends its thanks to Kay Reindl for her participation in this interview.