Whatcha Watchin?
Issue #29
Author, screenwriter, comedian, and former Six Feet Under co-executive producer Jill Soloway proves you can do it all when you put your mind to it
By Amber Drea
Published: September 1st, 2006 | 12:00am
Jill Soloway used to be a stoner until one day she decided to write a little story called “Courteney Cox’s Asshole,” which landed in the hands of Six Feet Under’s executive producer, Alan Ball. Since then she’s been working in Hollywood nonstop, hosting the reading series Sit ’n Spin, doing stand-up comedy, writing for film and theater, and penning her hilarious memoir, Tiny Ladies in Shiny Pants, which comes out in paperback in October 2006.
This past summer, Soloway shot her movie, You Just Know, “guerilla-style” with a small cast and crew, her film adaptation of the book Pledged: The Secret Life ofSororities is currently in the works, and she starts directing her first feature film, Tricycle, this fall. “Downtime makes me anxious,” she explains. But sometimes she’s able to enjoy it.
BOOB TUBE: I love reality — all Bravo stuff, Project Runway and Top Chef. My new favorite is Tuesday Night Book Club on CBS, which is filling up that space that The Real Housewives of Orange County held. And nothing can beat Deal or No Deal. … I feel for those women, 26 clones, all with the exact same breasts in the exact same dress. Their sameness, as well as their quantity, is truly perverse.
MOVIES: God, I just love loved The Squid and the Whale. … I loved the way it was just so about the ways we were parented (or not) in the ’70s. … I also love Carnal Knowledge, King of Comedy, Spinal Tap, and every last Woody Allen movie.
LISTENS: I’m iPod-y and Napsterish. I don’t know what to do with all those plastic CD cases — I load the music onto my ’puter and throw the cases in a drawer. I’d like to throw the whole drawer into the street. I could (and do) listen to Gnarls Barkley all day and night. Does that make me crazy? I also love this local [female-fronted] L.A. band called Great Northern. … Old-timey faves are Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and Van Morrison.
READS: I loved Michelle Tea’s The Chelsea Whistle. Her writing makes me ache with pain and joy. I want to be just like her. I also love everything ever by Lisa Carver, Heather Woodbury, Daphne Merkin, and Mary Gaitskill. Two brilliant friends who have memoirs coming out this fall are Sarah Thyre [a.k.a. Coach Wolf from Strangers With Candy] and Brett Paesel [her memoir is called Mommies Who Drink].
HOBBIES: Masturgoogling and reading (especially the newspaper every morning sitting outside with my cup of coffee). I don’t know whether that’s a hobby or not. My work sorta is my hobby, so I’m pretty lucky.
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