HBO Films Pilot Based On Controversial Hill Blogger

November 3, 2008

Jessica Cutler, the former congressional staffer turned blogger turned author who was fired from her Capitol Hill job in 2004 for describing online her active sexual life, including receiving money for late-night escapades, is in the news again. The producers of the upcoming HBO series based on Cutler's Washingtonienne book were spotted shooting scenes in Adams Morgan on Saturday night.

The comedy pilot created by "Sex and the City" star Sarah Jessica Parker, some of which is being shot in DC and Baltimore, revolves around three 28-year-old Hill staffers: Jackie (Rachael Taylor) a Manhattan transplant pursuing a speechwriting career who must work her way up from the intern desk; Laura (Amanda Walsh), a small-town GOP gal; and April (Bitsie Tulloch), Jackie's college friend (hat tip, Hollywood Reporter). The show is said to be only loosely based on the novel by Cutler, 30, who lives in New York City and has filed for bankruptcy.

Juliana Gruenwald

Tech Writer

E-Mail: jgruenwald@nationaljournal.com.

Juliana Gruenwald has been covering tech and telecom issues for more than a decade for National Journal, Interactive Week, BNA and Congressional Quarterly. This is her second stint with National Journal. She was recruited by NJ in 1998 to help launch its first tech policy publication, Technology Daily. She left in 2000 to cover international tech and telecom issues for Ziff Davis Media's Interactive Week magazine. She started her career at United Press International as the wire service's first Helen Thomas Intern. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota. A Minneapolis native, she misses the lakes but not the cold.

Josh Smith

Tech Reporter

E-Mail: joshsmith@nationaljournal.com.

Josh Smith covers technology policy as a staff reporter for National Journal. He previously interned at National Journal Daily, a Senate press office, and the Deseret News in Salt Lake City where he covered the state legislature, courts, and crime. In 2009 he graduated with honors from Southern Utah University after managing an award-winning student newspaper as editor-in-chief. Josh has received state, regional and national awards for his political and policy reporting, including first place in CapitolBeat’s 2009 Best of Statehouse Reporting college competition. A native of drop-dead-gorgeous Utah, Josh lives in Virginia with his wife, Amber.

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