Hmm, well, ok. I know many GIS tasks require multiple steps, just thought that since there are toolbar tools that can create in an existing feature class, they would be available through arcpy. Who knows, maybe the toolbar methods use the same method with an intermediate temp feature class behind the scenes.
I'm trying to create more automated procedures for coworkers that don't know much ArcGIS. The less actual editing they have to do, the better for all of us.
Thanks for the in_memory info, I'll check that out.