Meryl Streep to Produce Sarah Jones Sex Work Film ‘Sell/Buy/Date’

LOS ANGELES—With the COVID-19 pandemic throwing a spotlight on the social inequities endured by sex workers — who were largely shut out of economic aid packages and forced to scramble for new avenues to earn income — an upcoming documentary based on an acclaimed stage play will focus on the lives of sex workers and the issues they face. Tony Award-winning actress Sarah Jones debuted her Off-Broadway one-woman show titled Sell/Buy/Date in 2016. After running in New York, Jones performed the play for two separate runs in Los Angeles in 2018. In the play, Jones portrays multiple characters, all of whom are either sex workers or connected to the adult industry in some other way. The show received widely positive reviews, with The New York Times praising it as “absorbing,” and The Hollywood Reporter lauding Jones’ “chameleonic” ability to inhabit multiple characters. According to a report by THR this week, Jones will now direct a feature-length documentary film based on her play.  The movie has some high-powered names behind it. Multiple-Oscar-winner Meryl Streep will serve as executive producer, along with Rashida Jones — who also produced the controversial 2015 sex-industry documentary Hot Girls Wanted.  Laverne Cox, who became the first openly trans actress to receive an Emmy nomination for her role in the Netflix series Orange is the New Black, will also executive produce. Filming is currently set to begin in March. The documentary will be shot in three cities, New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas, and according to a report by the entertainment industry news site Deadline, the film focuses on the question, “Is sex work exploitative or empowering?” In a statement, Sarah Jones explained the origins of her interest in sex workers and the problems they must confront in society. “Long before I started performing my characters, at the start of my career I found myself on Rikers Island teaching poetry to incarcerated teenage girls — not exactly light-hearted fodder for the kind of humor I’m known for,” she said. “As young as 14 years old, many of these girls had been arrested on charges of prostitution. I remember thinking, 'how can children not old enough to drive or vote be locked up for this 'crime?’” Streep has long been supportive of Jones’s career. The acclaimed actress produced Jones’ first one-woman show, the Broadway production Bridge and Tunnel, in 2004. Photos by Veni Markovski / Glyn Lowe / Wikimedia Commons