Amazon Picks Up Trans-Themed Comedy Transparent for 10 Episodes
Jill Soloway's transgender TV project gets picked up for a season with promises of more trans characters.
BY Parker Marie Molloy
April 01 2014 4:58 PM ET
http://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2014/04/01/amazon-picks-trans-themed-comedy-transparent-10-episodesStreaming television is about to get more Transparent, as Amazon Studios announced Monday that it picked up the family dramady about a late-in-life transgender woman struggling to come out to her grown children. Written, directed, and produced by Jill Soloway (Six Feet Under, The United States of Tara) and starring Jeffrey Tambor as Maura, Transparent will see a full 10-episode run, available for purchase or streaming on Amazon's Prime Instant Video service.
In February, Amazon Studios released a series of TV pilots, leaving their fate in the hands of viewers — those pilots that received the highest ratings and most positive comments would be picked up for a full season. Now that the reviews are in, Amazon announced earlier this week that Transparent, along with five other series, had been officially picked up for a full season.
While hiring a cisgender (nontrans) actor to portray a trans woman often sparks harsh criticism, Transparent creator Soloway acknowledges the critique head-on.
"It's a line to walk," Soloway told The Advocate in a February interview. "But I feel like it's a bit of a safe space for the reality that a lot of older trans women don't necessarily medically transition. I think there's a story we can tell here. ... For Maura's journey and where she's going to go, particularly a her age — whether or not she's going to medically transition is something we can play with."
