Candace Bushnell, one of the most popular TV writers of the last decade after writing and creating Sex and the City, returns to fill the void left behind by the wildly popular HBO hit with Lipstick Jungle, starring Brooke Shields, Kim Raver, and Lindsay Price. With Lipstick Jungle about to premiere on Thursday, February 7 at 10pm, we caught up to Brooke Shields and Candace Bushnell on a recent conference call to learn about how Shields fits into the series, how the show will be different than Sex and the City, and how the series tackles the many challenges urban women face in today's competitive society.

Brooke Shields on the possible comparisons to Sex and the City:

"I would very quickly say that we’re a completely different book. You know, I think the pedigree that comes with that title is a wonderful thing. I have such respect for Candace [Bushnell]. I loved Sex and the City. The comparison really stops there just because we are a completely different novel, basically. So - and again, just sort of limited to only three or four women would be silly.

"You know, I find that it’s a fabulous initial response because people that loved Sex and the City will not be disappointed. People that might not have been familiar - although I’m sure there are no people unfamiliar with it - will be pleasantly surprised by the newness of this."

Candace Bushnell on the possibility of her other works, Four Blondes and Trading Up, being adapted for TV:

"Well, both parts of Four Blondes - which is four novellas - and Trading Up have been optioned at various times and [we] haven’t gone into production with either one of those two books, but I do love Trading Up and I always envisioned it as a six part miniseries. So, we’ll see. Something will probably happen down the road."

Shields on how closely she followed executives during her research:

"I didn’t spend any time per se, but I have spent so much time with female executives over my quite already long career. But I think that the sensibility of the book itself - it’s so vivid and Candace’s version, and her power of description and character was really all I needed. And then the history involved, and then before these women are any of their titles they really are just women that are so complex and interesting that it’s all - it was really there in a character more than it was just a job description."

Candace Bushnell on Sheilds' character, Wendy:

"Wendy is a caretaker, and that’s - that is definitely a style that women have in business and their careers. I mean, that is one of the styles. And so Wendy takes care of everybody at the movie studio. She takes care of her actors. She also takes care of her family."

Shields on how the roles of men and women have evolved over the years and how it applies to her own life:

"That raises so many interesting questions. My editor at Hyperion - I remember being surprised when she told me that her husband was a stay-at-home dad. And we sort of talked about it and she said, 'You know, we never thought it was going to be this way, but this is just what happened. And, you know, he’s enjoying it. He feels fulfilled. I am - and yet at times we’re each sort of envious of the other one.' And it’s just a really interesting, very modern dynamic but a very real one. And when I look at [my husband] Shane and I think 'Wow, you got to put [Taylor] to bed, and I missed that.' I’m envious of him. I’m slightly jealous of him, you know."

Bushnell on bringing Lipstick Jungle to TV:

"Well, the book - my agent sent the book out and there were - there was a lot of interest. There were offers from, I think, four different companies. And we went with NBC. And then I worked with another writer and we did the initial pilot script. And that was actually ordered to be, you know, to be made into a pilot. And, you know, we looked at it - gave it a really good look and decided to change direction a bit. So it - the process is - it’s a lot of writing, a lot of meetings, a lot of thinking and a lot of work."

Inside Lipstick Jungle with Brooke Shields and Candace Bushnell Page 2