Joey Soloway on Desire, Freedom and Play

Joey Soloway, creator of the award winning shows Transparent and I Love Dick, joins us to talk about creating art that matters, art that is helping to change global culture and liberate the narratives of the marginalized.

In this interview, Joey Soloway talks about how the forces of desire, empathy, freedom and play shape their work and help to create shows that offer new portals of possibility and permission for millions. We also discuss the anatomy of a great sex scene, and how sex scenes can offer a liberation from the box of normalcy and the secrecy of shame.

Joey Soloway’s new book is She Wants It: Desire, Power, and Toppling the Patriarchy – and gracefully weaves together a Hollywood memoir about how Jill’s art and life inspire and influence one another while also offering fresh and vital perspectives on gender, sexuality, power and consent. 

Joey Soloway was a TV writer on shows like Six Feet Under, Grey’s Anatomy and many others, made a well loved independent movie called Afternoon Delight, and then created a show called Transparent, which went on to become not only a super successful award winning show, but also brought a transgender narrative into millions of homes around the world. They also created I Love Dick, another brilliant show that grapples with sexuality and gender. As part of Amazon, their shows reach an audience in 230 countries. Joey Soloway’s art is lovingly and reverently part of and responding to the current cultural narratives on gender, sexuality, family, Judaism and human connection. 

*At the time of this interview, Joey Soloway was using the name Jill. This page, but not the audio file, has been updated to respect Joey Soloway’s current named identity. 6/2020

Go Deeper: Interviews, Talks and Presentations with Joey Soloway