Jill Soloway, the creator of Amazon’s transgender-themed original drama Transparent, wants to change the way stories are told in TV and film by ridding the industry of its so-called “male privilege.”
At a joint Women in Film and United Talent Agency shopping fundraiser in Los Angeles, CA, on Monday, the award-winning writer and director condemned nepotism within the industry and praised the American Civil Liberties Union.
Per Variety, she said:
I think, as the ACLU is investigating the illegality of keeping women from directing positions, male creators, showrunners, producers and directors have to really face the immorality, their own immorality, of hiring their friends, of telling male stories, of perpetuating male privilege through protagonism.
In May, the ACLU of Southern California, along with the national ACLU Women’s Rights Project, announced plans to ask federal and California civil rights agencies to investigate a “systemic failure” to hire female directors in film and television.
Those accused of gender discrimination included Hollywood’s major film and TV studios, major networks, and talent agencies.
According to Soloway Monday, the systematic discrimination “means the male gaze — men as subject, women as object — is business as usual for men to be able to keep telling their stories from their point of view.”
The showrunner added that women need more opportunities to write and direct and should be empowered and encouraged in doing so.
Soloway also praised a small number of males for making opportunities for women more prevalent.
“I really applaud Judd Apatow for, over the past few years, using his privilege to give access to people like Lena Dunham and Amy Schumer,” she said. “Paul Feig is doing the same thing, helping the all-female ‘Ghostbusters’ get made. They should be examples to other men who have power and give access to female creators that they admire.”
Transparent is a comedy-drama about a family struggling with its father’s admission he is a transgender woman.
On former Olympian Bruce Jenner’s gender transition, Soloway reflected on her own father’s gender identity issues and how they may have helped the Karashian/Jenner family.
“To watch Caitlyn at the ESPY Awards look at her daughters on the show and to feel like my sister and I,” Soloway said. “That we might have had some small effect on the way a much more famous family was able to also welcome their trans-parent into the world.”