by Carrie Baker

LOS ANGELES, June 6, 2006 – Things are looking pretty good for writer Kathy Greenberg. Greenberg, whose first foray into writing had been for the pilot episode for the popular Showtime Network series, The L Word staring Jennifer Beals, Pam Grier, Laurel Holloman, and many more. The pilot, hailed by many as the best episode of the series, was co-written by Greenberg along with Ilene Chaiken, and Michele Abbott.

This year, Greenberg has the distinction of co-writing a new Pixar film, Ratatouille, which will also mark Greenberg’s feature film debut. Ratatouille is the eighth animated feature for Pixar.

The plot centers around a French rat named Ratatouille who lives in the sewers underneath a fancy and expensive uptown restaurant run by a chef who is both well known and a bit crazy named Chaz Morinto. Ratatouille thinks of himself as an upscale rat, but his father is convinced that he should try eating garbage like other rats that came before him. One night Ratatouille is caught up in the restaurant and makes things dangerous for all of the other rats when they decide to call in the exterminator.

Ratatouille stars Brad Garrett (Everybody Loves Raymond) and John Ratzenberger (Cheers, Toy Story). Ratatouille would have been the first film released by Pixar after their split from Disney. In January of this year, Disney decided to purchase Pixar in a deal that merged the two companies permanently. Disney and Pixar had announced that their partnership would include Ratatouille previous to the announcement.
Brad Bird will be directing Ratatouille. Bird also directed the 2004 Pixar film The Incredibles. The screenwriters will be Kathy Greenberg co-writing with Emily Cook, who also makes her feature film screen writing debut.