Elliot Frances Flynn
Photography credit: Nick Wheelehon
Elliot Frances Flynn (she/her) is an actor and writer whose recent credits include acting work on HBO’s Mare of Easttown, Netflix’s Things Heard and Seen, and recent feature film: Shoplifters of the World. She’s also a top ten finalist at the ATX Pitch Festival for Wombmates— a show conceived (pun intended) by her and her sister Bridget (they’re two out of three triplets!) that they will keep pitching until it finds a home. Elliot shares her journey, her main advice for young people starting out, and what she’s learned from being on set lately. Read and listen below!
When people ask you, “What do you do?” what do you tell them?
I say I'm an actor. And then I usually scramble to tell them that I'm really an actor— I have been in movies, they just haven't seen them yet. Thankfully, that that scramble is coming to a close.
Congratulations! That’s awesome.
Thank you!
Why did you start acting? Do you see yourself adding on any other hyphenates to your career as it goes on? You mentioned before that you’ve started to get more into writing.
So to answer the first part of your question…
I do want to write and I have some ideas I've been kicking around. I actually have a degree in creative writing, so I've been published in some online lit mags, stuff like some personal essays and things like that. Because sometimes I think you just can't make this shit up! Like, I think sometimes these stories come packaged perfectly with all these themes and motifs and you just, you just can't make it up. I guess I'm in the business of romanticizing my own life.
I would really like to explore screenwriting on a more legitimate level. I feel like I have things to say. And I know when I see that someone has written a personal essay, or a great screenplay, exploring something that I was thinking about, I'm like oh, so I'm not crazy for thinking about this or, I'm not the only one who feels this way. I want to provide someone else with that sort of comfort.
I find what I'm toying with now is which? Which story is the most prevalent right now? And that seems to change. It seems to change all the time. I know, I just need to sit down and not wait for inspiration to strike. Something that I'm a really big proponent of is: don't wait. Or else you’ll be waiting forever. If you're waiting for the perfect circumstances to write or to decide that you're going to audition consistently or things like that— just don't wait. Because those reasons you feel you need to wait for are your own fears about starting.
My sister Bridget and I are finalists in the ATX festival Pitch Competition together (note: Bridget and Elliot made it to the top 10 final pitches at the competition for Wombmates!). My sister's. an aspiring writer and aspiring novelist, she wrote this really great novel that she's trying to shop around. I have every faith that it will be published. I mean, I've read it like a zillion times. She's really like my creative partner and my partner in crime in that way. We decided that we will join forces and we pitched a TV series about twins.
Speaking of representation, what kinds of stories do you wish we saw more often on screen?
I think stories about sexuality that are more nuanced. I think that every day we get closer and closer to these kinds of stories. I think about stories about trans people that are always: “I was born in the wrong body.” No one needs to hear that anymore and every day we get closer to better representation that isn’t that. Stories that are more nuanced, that’s what I’m interested in.
I want to hear about your journey, starting from high school— what were the things you said yes to, and what were the twists and turns that brought you to this year where a lot of your hard work is really starting to shine through?
I always wanted to be an actor, but I was very scared of failing. So when I went to school, when it was time to go to college, I was like, oh, I'm gonna study writing. Being on the other side of that, and being an adult— that's no more viable. I just knew in that moment I’d hand in my writing portfolio, and that's it. I don't have to stand in front of a panel of faculty members and do a monologue. That was just too terrifying for me.
Have you ever dealt with disrespect in your workplace, and how did you deal with it?
Well, the answer is yes. Yes I have dealt with that, and those moments are very disheartening. Sometimes it makes you so mad you want to scream.
In that moment, you have a choice of how you’ll handle the situation because your next move is going to reflect on you. No matter what it is. If a girl starts yelling on set because someone said something rude to her, the story becomes oh she yelled. I think the story becomes that because our society and our industry are still deeply steeped in sexism and misogyny, but I am really conscious of that.
I am finding my own way to have power that suits me. That doesn't feel like I am being caged or suppressed. That power to me is keeping my cool, is not being reactionary, is keeping the peace on set. If I want to shut a comment down, I’ll say “That's private” or “I don't talk about that”. I have a rule. I don't say anything negative on set ever. And I was talking to one of my male friends about it, who had worked as a PA and other roles like that. And he was like, “Don't you feel like you're being silenced?"— if I don't share my opinion on something that happens to be negative. And I was like, wow, that is the male perspective. It was really eye-opening to see it in that way. I'm not sharing my opinion, I'm being oppressed.
I don't mean to say that flippantly or with attitude or anything, but he was like, “Don't you feel like if you keep quiet, you're being oppressed? If you don't share your true opinion?” I'm like, “No, because I am choosing quiet in that moment” because keeping the peace on set and being a pleasant person is is the priority to me. Because like I said, I'm usually just on set for a day or two. I'm the one who's coming and going, so I have a very limited amount of time to make a good impression. I'm not going to waste a moment of that saying something negative.
What’s bringing you joy right now?
Connecting with my friends is giving me a lot of joy. I think that the pandemic allowed for everyone to be a little bit more emotional with each other, and in a way that we spread love more easily to each other. And that's giving me a lot of joy.
You know, people say this is going to be hot girl summer 2.0. or hot vaxxed summer and then I hear people trying to say things like “But I'm not ready, I don't have my summer body!”, I'm like, your body kept you alive this year. We are all incredibly grateful. We are incredibly lucky and should be incredibly grateful to be alive. And I keep that in mind. All the time. And I think my friends know it too. So that's something that's bringing me joy. I feel like I've never been closer to my friends.
That’s lovely, it really is. I have three speed-round questions for you! First one: what was the last thing you watched?
I watched The Graduate.
What was the last book you read?
I am currently reading The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides.
Do you have a favorite book?
My favorite book is Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. It is this great epic, about an intersex person and their family. Throughout the time of years and years and years. It's truly an epic. And it moved me to tears.
I’ll have to read it! And lastly, if you could tell your younger self one thing, what would it be?
Just start.
Yup. That’s it. That’s a wrap! Thank you for sharing your story with us, Elliot.
And to whoever may be reading this, this is your sign to just start.
