Real Estate for Beginners

There were concerns that the plot with the confusing seminar wouldn't work, and Helen Hunt remarked that they required a high-caliber actress to sell it. Writer/producer Peter Tolan immediately thought of Jean Smart, who had starred in his short-lived series Style & Substance (1998). He'd tried and failed to bring her aboard other projects over the years, so when Smart accepted, Tolan decided to tailor the role to her former Chelsea Stevens character as an inside-joke.

References Style & Substance (1998)