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June 28, 2006

Halle Berry

*As ex-husband Eric Benet rants about her “lies” surrounding their marriage to the media, Halle Berry is moving forward with an HBO project based on two memoirs from “Scrubs” writer Angela Nissel: "The Broke Diaries" and "Mixed: My Life in Black and White."

Berry and manager Vincent Cirrincione will executive produce the series tentatively titled "Mixed Up," a single-camera sitcom that will focus on a biracial woman and her two friends as they tackle racial and financial issues post-college.

"It's about living without the safety net. They're all broke together," Nissel told the Hollywood Reporter. She has already finished a draft of the pilot and expects to turn it in to HBO shortly. If greenlit, it would be the first series order for Berry and Cirrincione, who teamed on HBO's Emmy-winning 2005 film "Lackawanna Blues."

Angela Nissel

Nissel, meanwhile, has just signed a one-year overall deal with NBC Universal Television Studio to develop a comedy project for the company. The partnership reportedly covers her work on Touchstone Television's "Scrubs," where she's a consulting producer. Nissel’s work for NBC Universal also includes an uncredited rewrite on their pilot “Angela’s Eyes,” which will premiere on Lifetime in the fall.

In other Berry news, the actress has been named by legendary singer/actress Eartha Kitt as the woman she’d choose to play her in a biopic. The original “Catwoman” chronicles her seven years in show business in the memoirs "I'm Still Here" and "Rejuvenate: It's Never Too Late." Both books are reportedly being adapted for a single big screen biopic. When asked if Beyonce should be considered to play the lead role, the 79-year-old replied: "I do not think I have quite the derriere of Beyonce. Give me Halle Berry instead."