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Rarely has a television show (and a big budget dramatic comedy at that) been as relevant and important as Transparent is right now. The Amazon series starring Jeffrey Tambor as a retired college professor who comes out as transgender, has normalised the perception and improved understanding of trans people in mainstream society at a time when anti-transgender laws are being debated – all through the cleverly subversive strategy of making us laugh.
For the show’s creator and director Jill Soloway (nominated for the 2016 Emmy for Directing for a Comedy Series, a category she won last year) who began writing the script after her own parent came out as trans, this spreading of awareness, admirable as it is, was never her intention – at least not on such a grand scale.
“After my parent came out I was a little bit nervous and maybe in the closet myself about coming from a family with a trans parent and I didn’t really know how to talk about it with friends or with other people in my family,” she tells Grazia.
“So I think writing the script and making the pilot helped me to share the story of it at a small level, person to person. The fact that it’s worked in that way internationally, that people can talk about ‘trans-ness’ in a very intimate, nuanced way that’s getting distributed across the globe – that’s a dream come true.”
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Jill Soloway and Jeffrey Tambor on set
Soloway, who worked on Alan Ball’s HBO series Six Feet Under among various other screen projects in her pre-Transparent career, is given an enormous amount of artistic freedom by Amazon. It’s a smart move, because Soloway is clearly onto something: the show has been nominated for 10 Emmy Awards this year (that’s on top of the five it won and total of 11 it was nominated for last year, as well as a host of Golden Globes, Critics Choice, Directors Guild of America and other accolades) including Comedy Series and Lead Actor in a Comedy for Jeffrey Tambor.
Soloway says the resounding critical acclaim has “inspired and invigorated” her and her team. “It’s been great to have the positive regard of the world and Amazon and we just keep challenging ourselves go further, go further, go further,” she reflects.
“We ask ourselves the questions when we write ‘what can we do that’s never been done before? What can we do that’s going to change the world?’ We don’t say ‘we’re done’, we say ‘let’s take the fact that we have the attention of the whole world and just keep pushing it.’”
Credit: Getty ImagesSolway accepts the 2015 Emmy for Directing for a Comedy Series
In fact, Soloway says she thinks of herself “as more of an activist and somebody who’s into social justice movements maybe even more so than television” and not only for the transgender movement but female gender equality – feminism has long been the cornerstone of her professional and personal life.
“Feminism is just like air for me, it’s the language I speak,” she says, explaining how feminist principles are a driving force during production of the show. “We think about feminism in our methods of shooting and our production methods, we talk about a matriarchal model, which prioritises emotions and feelings and connections over speed and money.”
Solway with Amy Landecker, who plays Sarah Pfefferman, on set
The industry accolades showered on both Transparent and Soloway marks a pivotal time in the television industry. Being famously male-dominated has naturally led to a disproportionate amount of male perspectives on our screens. But Soloway is doing her best to balance the scales with realistic, complex stories of Maura (Tambor), her ex-wife Shelly (Judith Light), their three adult children, Sarah (Amy Landecker), Josh (Jay Duplass) and Ali (Gaby Hoffman), and a host of other recurring characters such as Maura’s friend Davina, played by trans actress Alexandra Billings. Ahead of the season three premiere on September 23 and as work begins on the fourth season, there’s no doubt the boundaries will continue to be pushed under Soloway’s guidance.
Watch Grazia’s interview with Jill Soloway in the video above.
Transparent season three premieres in Australia on Stan on September 24.
