"Climbing to the top"......

by Denise Martin, Staff

Jennifer Love Hewitt is set to star in "Confessions of a Sociopathic Social Climber," an original movie for Oxygen.   

Women's cabler has greenlit production on the two-hour comedy from exec producer Stan Brooks and his Once Upon a Time shingle ("Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss").

Pic, based on Adele Lang's bestselling book of the same name, features Hewitt as a young ad sales exec who will do just about anything to claw her way up the San Francisco social ladder. "She's a character who's sort of out of the school of 'Ab Fab.' She's self-centered, rebellious and should really know better. But in the end you're rooting for her to get better," said programming president Debby Beece.

Exec aims to get at least two original longform projects on the air for next year. Pics will follow the same strategy as series -- a mix of irreverent comedy and female-centered drama.

Production on "Confessions" is slated to start next month for a premiere in early 2005.

Hewitt's feature credits include "Garfield the Movie" and "The Tuxedo." Thesp last co-exec produced and starred in the ABC pilot "In the Game."

Brooks is currently producing a quartet of back-to-back crime thrillers for cabler USA.

It's ironic that Love is doing this movie for the Oxygen Channel---not because it's a great script, but that MEREDITH BROOKS wrote the theme for the Oxygen Channel.  And occationally performs it.  That's her "Oh-ing" you hear.

You see, Meredith produced a CD called "BARENAKED".

Also this is a third trip to San Francisco, CA for Love (as a working actress---make believe or not). The first was "SISTER ACT II: BACK IN THE HABIT" and the second was "PARTY OF FIVE".

But they are filming the movie up in the Vancouver area of Canada.

Story: © 2004 Variety in association with My Love Hewitt Websites. All Rights Reserved.
Image: © 2004 Oxygen Media Inc. All Rights Reserved.