Justin Trudeau, in his Hollywood era, to produce TV series based on Australian book

Late last week, former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau , perhaps better known these days as Katy Perry’s boyfriend, became the latest ex-politician to try their hand in the entertainment business when he announced the launch of a new production company.

One of the projects Trudeau’s new venture has in development piqued our interest.

The production company, which Trudeau will run alongside his former chief of staff, Katie Telford , is working on a TV adaptation of The Right Hand: Conversations with the Chiefs of Staff to the World’s Most Powerful People by Australian author Phoebe Saintilan-Stocks .

The working title for the series is Backchannels , and involves Saintilan-Stocks’ twin sister, Chloe Saintilan , a creative director based in New York.

When reached on Monday, Saintilan-Stocks said she and her sister had been developing a show concept based on a young female chief of staff working for a prime minister, inspired by the conversations she had while writing her book.

Telford was one of the first chiefs of staff who agreed to be part of the book, which was published by Penguin Random House last year, and the pair stayed in touch. Saintilan-Stocks said she started talking to Telford about the possibility of a scripted TV series earlier this year.

Then Trudeau and Telford caught up with Saintilan-Stocks again in April when the pair were last in Australia. That trip saw Trudeau speak at the Women Deliver summit in Melbourne.

The former PM also appeared at a dinner put on by beauty retailer Mecca, where Trudeau unloaded on the losers who make up the manosphere, and appeared in conversation with ABC journalist Leigh Sales .

“To me, it felt like such an obvious fit – a series exploring the hidden world of chiefs of staff and political power, inspired by conversations with some of the people closest to world leaders, being developed alongside one of the most recognisable leader-chief of staff partnerships in recent political history,” Saintilan-Stocks told CBD.

Sadly no word yet on who else will be involved in the series, or when or where it will be shot. But we look forward to learning more.

Well, well, well. Sussan Ley is officially back, after the Albanese government recruited the former opposition leader to the board of the Snowy Hydro.

The appointment, which was announced on Monday alongside that of former Australian Energy Market Operator GM Merryn York , marks Ley’s first role after losing the Liberal Party leadership to Opposition Leader Angus Taylor in February.

The Snowy Hydro board reports jointly to Energy Minister Chris Bowen and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher , who represent the Commonwealth as “shareholder ministers”. Time must really heal all wounds, because it wasn’t that long ago that Bowen came out to attack Ley’s Coalition for its “disgusting” conduct after the Bondi terror attack. And that’s before we even get to the fact that Ley oversaw the Coalition’s abandonment of net zero.

It may not be the Toronto Film Festival.