Down-to-earthlings: with an amazing cast and her own life to draw upon, the creator of Showtime's upcoming lesbian series Earthlings offers a sneak peek of how she plans to make it real and keep it sexy. (television).

Ever since Showtime premiered boy-a-licious Queer as Folk, gay girls have been asking, "Where's the lesbian version?" Showtime is coming up with what could be a very hot answer. It's called Earthlings, although the only earth it refers to is that patch known as West Hollywood, Calif. Created by out writer Ilene Chaiken and executive-produced by Chaiken and two collaborators, the pilot episode of Earthlings will blossom into a 2003 Showtime series if all goes well.

The show's inspired by her own life, says Chaiken: "I actually conceived and pitched it to Showtime well over a year before anybody had ever heard of Queer as Folk." But just as gay men have found ample eye candy in QAF, Chaiken promises that women who like great-looking women are going to like what they see in Earthlings. During a break in filming the pilot, Chaiken--who wrote 2000's Golden Globe-winning Dirty Pictures--took time to preview the show for Advocate readers.

Tell us about the characters you chose to include in Earthlings.

There are two driving stories in the pilot. One is the story of Jenny [Mia Kirshner], a presumably straight woman, 22, just out of college, who comes to L.A. to move in with her boyfriend. She'd never really contemplated that she might not be straight. Then she meets a woman and gets swept off her feet, and her relationship falls apart, and her life is turned inside out. The next-door neighbors are the other key characters in the show: Bette [Jennifer Beals] and Tina [Laurel Holloman], a couple who've been together for seven years and are trying to start a family and also are dealing with some of the issues that come up in relationships after seven years.

They're sick of each other, in other words.

[Laughs] I'd hate to say that about enduring relationships. But seven years is the time--the seven-year itch. My partner and I have been together for 18 years, so we've hit that seven-year mark several times over.

You've got a great cast. How did you come to these particular actors?

Through great good fortune. We've got Scott Bairstow as Jenny's fiance and then three fabulous actors as the additional characters: Kate Moennig, Leisha Halley, and Erin Daniels. And Karina Lombard as Marina, the fabulous seductress who rocks Jenny's world.

A seductress! Are you preparing to be attacked as a poster child for lesbian recruitment?

Not at all, though it occurred to me the other day. In every romance, every relationship, one is seduced.

Kate Moennig, who plays Shane, is wonderful to look at. Is her character a seductress as well?

Less a seductress and more a stud. She is Warren Beatty in Shampoo. She gets all the girls, all the time.

I'm also a huge fan of Pain Grier.

I'm beyond thrilled that we got Pam. [Her character] is the woman who has been through the movement, who probably was in the Stonewall riots. She comments on all of the action and ties the show together.

Then there's Leisha Harley. It's interesting that your one out lesbian actress is playing bisexual.

We didn't do that intentionally. I'm sort of amused by it. It was important to all of us that this be real [and] that we didn't cast actresses who felt like [straight] girls playing lesbians.

Is L.A. the best place to be a lesbian?

I think it is. First of all, there are a lot of women [laughs]. And it's also a very eclectic place. To be a lesbian in Los Angeles doesn't mean that you automatically live in one particular way. You can find your community in Los Angeles. You can find your people.