Women in TV are 'Boxed In'; the Fall TV season is here; actor Jay Duplass

Well, I think what we’re seeing, unfortunately, is a continuing flatlining of numbers that’s been going on since 1998. If we look at that new report today from Martha Lauzen, we see a pattern that we’ve become very accustomed to, unfortunately, in this area of social science. That said, I think that the report also indicates a couple of flickering areas of change and some optimistic things along the way.

Women in Film and the Sundance Institute and a number of other organizations have been trying to get to the bottom of this for a long time. And generally, the research indicates that the reasons for this are rather mythological. We tend to run into [fallacies] like men being fearful that women are too busy multitasking to manage money properly. Or perhaps that they’re too emotional to manage money properly. But we haven’t come up with any hard data that would suggest that there’s an actual reason.

I feel an enormous responsibility, at least in my case ... I’ve made my personal pledge to condition myself to make sure there is no decision that happens in terms of hiring that doesn’t take into consideration qualified men and women at equal amounts. And my cultural responsibility inside of a major motion picture studio is to help change these cultural mores. Oftentimes I point things out within our own walls and everybody finds themselves in shock that we actually just managed to make a decision without including a woman. It’s not as if there’s any intention to do so, it’s just as if there is typecasting on a global level. And we all need to make changes and we need to speak up. The women who are in these roles, and there are certainly a few of us, we can’t be scared. I mean, we all are scared because, people like myself, we worry if we make a stink, we become noisy and annoying, and we could lose our jobs. But until these numbers are shifted and until women are making up 50 percent of each and every gatekeeping job subset, we have to continue to make this change. It’s the right thing for the companies. I firmly believe it’s the right thing for economics, which is the most important thing to these companies. And I firmly believe it’s the right thing for not only cultures here, but worldwide.

Definitely in the last two years we’ve seen a huge surge forward in terms of the information flow, thanks to many wonderful people that are working on this cause. But I do think that we are at a tipping point in terms of information, that if we don’t find a way to convert the power in these numbers. And there is power in these numbers. But if we can’t convert this into action for sustainable change, the moment will come and the moment will go.

Yeah, I think one show can make a difference. [In] season one we had 100 percent female directors. Season two we had one CIS male director, one trans director and the rest CIS women directors. You know, I’m often thinking about privilege and the privilege of protagonism ... I’m using the camera as a sort of litigating, as almost propaganda for my way of seeing the world. Every day I notice when I’m writing [and] directing that I’m in some ways creating propaganda about the way I see the world. And I realize how much men have been doing that without really noticing that they’re claiming their privilege by saying, Hey, this is how it feels to be a CIS white male. Hey this is how it feels to have privilege and access. This is how it feels to be straight. This is how it feels to be able to divide women into the good woman and the bad woman, the madonna and the whore. I don’t mean to get all preachy and political, but the more I see it, the more I realize that it’s really as simple as allowing people access to the camera and to the directing chair and to the scriptwriting.

You know, I grew up in the late ‘60s early ‘70s, and my mom was involved in the Civil Rights Movement. And I sort of realize now — when I see how energizing it is to be part of a civil rights movement — what I grew up believing made life meaningful was to feel like you were doing something that mattered. So I think of myself as a comedian who learned how to direct. And my feminism is part of who I am. The fact that I can add up all of that into changing the world, I just feel lucky that we get to come to work and know we’re here changing the world.

I don't know what's different. 'Cause I'm in the acting position, that's probably what's different. 

Which is wildly, wildly different, because as a writer and a director and a creator, you are god. You hold the whole universe and you're mommy and daddy. It's a very fulfilling place to be, but it is very challenging. Whereas an actor, it's a completely different experience. It's about just being in the moment and being just one thing as opposed to holding thousands of ideas at one time. I find that really freeing and joyful. 

It can be intuitive and sometimes I can be completely off because Jill [Soloway] and I are completely different as people. And the way that she is and the way that her characters operate in the universe is very different from the way that I do it. Even just yesterday, I totally didn't understand a scene and I was about to recommend that we just completely [change] it. But as I was doing the scene, I learned an amazing amount of things about my character and why that scene needed to exist. And it was incredibly enlightening and opened my mind to so many things. It's an education every day being on set, and it's really fun to come and get schooled. 

Yeah, it's really interesting 'cause I'm so surprised when people come up to me and [say], "God, how are you playing this guy who's so different from you?" Because I've been married for 10 years, I've been with my wife for 13 years, I have two kids, I have a marriage with my brother — I'm like overly married. But I bring all of myself to Josh everyday, so I feel very connected to him in terms of his primal needs and what he wants, and I feel them as well. 

It hasn't that much yet and it's mostly because Jill and I are already so similar in the way we treat our actors and our whole crews. But I have learned some things from Jill about the nature of long-form storytelling in this way because I come from a more independent film background. Also, I have not been able to put it into practice yet, but just the incredible platform she is standing upon. Basically her show is at the center of a civil rights movement and there's something incredibly empowering being a part of something like that. 

There was always a feeling of importance, of getting it right and being a part of something special. I hate to say it, but it really came when they said, "And the Golden Globe goes to Transparent." Because prior to that moment, it felt like we were making a little independent thing on the east side of L.A. that was going to show on the web. We always loved it and thought it was special, but that's what the feeling was and that's a good feeling to me. That's what I love because it was homemade and it was uncompromising. None of us knew how far it would reach, [whether] anyone would go to Amazon and pay $100 a year to watch this. 



There were nine other [Golden Globe] nominees and they were huge shows with huge stars, and everyone was better looking than us [laughs.]  But we went up on stage and we were being seen by the whole world, and that was the moment for me where I was like, Okay, this is a thing. This is a phenomenon. This is not just a little show we're making on the east side of LA. 

Never. And especially with our material. My brother and I come from a very small place, we grew up in the suburbs of New Orleans. We didn't know anyone who was involved in the film industry or the entertainment industry. It was so foreign to us, so the way that we've been creating things is just coming out of a little cave and making a piece of art that shares a part of ourselves and we say, Do you like it? And most people say they like it, but not a lot of people see it. ["Transparent"] is just catching hold and there is some divine providence of the timing of everything.  

I resisted heavily, and also because of my commitment to HBO, it was technically challenging. 

Yeah. I was gonna bail [on "Transparent"]. 

I said, "I don't think it's right and I don't think I'm gonna come because it's gonna be too much."

Oh yeah! And she said, "You hold on a second. Do not put that phone down." And she pulled Gaby [Hoffmann] over and they both got on the phone and they started basically yelling at me like loving sisters would. And they said, "You get your ass down here! You were meant to be on this show!" I had to just completely surrender to this show and to becoming an actor and to whatever was gonna happen to my life — and that's not something that I have a lot of experience with. I'm usually the architect and engineer of all the things that I do. 

I don't know. That's a really good question. All I can say — and this mostly relates to "Togetherness," because that's the one I created — is that I find that trying to be a good husband and a good dad, and at the same time trying to keep your personal dreams alive, is the hardest thing in the world. I feel like I'm this close to drowning at all times. And the more that I've talked about that, I started to find that other people feel that way, too. Just trying to balance your life and keep your own intentions and dreams alive — that is enormous conflict. I'm just trying to share that and hopefully connect with other people, and hopefully other people laugh about it. 

[laughs] Eh ... critic is not my role, so I'm more excited to see how shows perform and whether they're big bombs or big hits. "The Muppets" on ABC is tracking through the roof, not surprisingly — it's a brand that's almost 50 years old.



I'm curious to see about Neil Patrick Harris's new show, "Best Time Ever," though I always want to call it "Best Night Ever." But that would be too logical a name. They're saying it's an attempt to bring back variety, but I'm not convinced it actually is variety.

I'm actually a proponent of the genre. I believe that variety can work, and I think it's working right now in late night. Jimmy Fallon does a variety show, James Corden is doing an element of a variety on CBS with "The Late Late Show," and I think the format can easily work in primetime if done well. And I think it's a great way to cut through the clutter, as it's something you don't have to binge-watch.



But unfortunately, I think networks like NBC feel they need to make everything into a big game show, a big reality show, or a big contest with judges. To me, that's not variety. That's spectacle, and that could do spectacularly, but we'll see.

They're in a start-over mode. "Key & Peele" is certainly a big loss for them creatively, but ratings-wise it's ... not a massive hit. And the ratings for Larry Wilmore's show have been down a lot since Jon Stewart left, and he now needs to re-prove himself. And of course the new host of "The Daily Show" needs to completely prove himself. Comedy Central's hoping that younger viewers will really gravitate to this new show, which means they may lose some overall viewership while building a new audience.

I mean, they all are. They're now producing so much content that they're definitely having an impact on people's viewing habits. For example, Hulu will have a commercial-free option. It used to be that, if you missed a show on a broadcast network and you wanted to catch up on Hulu, you had to put up with all sorts of commercials. Now you can pay $12 and get no commercials, and I'm really curious to see if that has an impact on the linear ratings for broadcast networks, now that people can just shift a day and watch on Hulu.



In terms of actual original content, there's a lot that looks good. I've seen four episodes of Aziz Ansari's new show, "Master of None," which premieres on Netflix in November. I think it's really good — it's a little "Curb Your Enthusiasm," a little like Woody Allen in the '70s, as told through the eyes of Aziz Ansari and Allen Yang, his co-showrunner.



I'm also looking forward to two new shows on Amazon. They've got "Red Oaks," which is an sitcom set in the '80s that premieres next month, and "Man in the High Castle," which imagines a world where the Axis powers actually won World War II.