Miss Manhattan Hangs Out with Elliot Frances Flynn
"Nerds Gummy Clusters in Our Hierarchy of Needs"
Elliot Frances Flynn is already at The Bowery Hotel when I arrive. Outside, the sun beams and the air is fresh, a welcome summer surprise. Inside, it’s lush and moody, with luxe leather interiors, a fireplace, and more than one kind of embroidered textile. The fire prickles in the background; we’re not too toasty or too cold. The writer, actress, and filmmaker loves this space, relaxing here when she’s in transit between home and her next meeting—it’s either this or a local library, she laughs. We sit amongst the cozy furniture and nosh on a couple of the hotel’s house pastries. Did you know you can just sit in the lobby and order treats from the menu at Gemma, their on-site restaurant? I find myself tucking away this knowledge for the future.
You may recognize Elliot from HBO Max’s Peacemaker, in which she played Zora; from Colin West’s film Linoleum; or from Apple TV’s Confession. She will also appear in Todd Strauss-Schulson’s forthcoming film Silent Retreat, which stars Dennis Haysbert and Isabella Rossellini. Elliot directed her first comedic short, Baby Fat, which debuted in 2025. Based on a story she wrote about “an after-school prostitution ring behind an ice cream shop,” it’s informed by Elliot’s love of ‘90s and 2000s dark comedies like Welcome to the Dollhouse and Ghost World as well as her own understanding of sexuality at a young age. Baby Fat made its way to several festivals in 2025.
Elliot is an ethereal presence, and she speaks thoughtfully about her work in writing and film–the worlds she wants to live in, the privilege of criticism, the pursuit of fun, the experience of fun becoming work. She revels in early 2000s nostalgia–indeed, this is the time period in which Baby Fat is set. She figured if she loves it so much, it would be easy to live in it for as long as it takes to get a film made. And while filmmaking is a long process, it’s still something she wants to do again at some point.
Currently, Elliot is also writing nonfiction–indeed, this is how we met, as part of the Miss Manhattan Reading’s annual Getting Fresh reading, where emerging writers read true tales of sex and dating. I take submissions for that event, and I remember Elliot’s blew me away–particularly her 2024 essay “Nerds Gummy Clusters in Our Hierarchy of Needs.” As we chat about writing–what stories we get to tell, how, and to whom–there’s a man in a baseball t-shirt with an old-school New York accent telling boxing stories to someone who works at a Condé Nast magazine (or so they said). It goes hand in hand with what we’re talking about, actually–how maybe you don’t have to be an international A-List celebrity to have a story that matters, how so many people want to be asked about themselves simply because they never have been before. But if you also have the opportunity (and desire) to tell your own stories, all the better.
