Its grounded and tenderly funny, a slice-of-life that centers on a character typically relegated to the margins.
For Bryant, who also serves as co-executive producer, this was all very much by design.
They really let me take the reins, she tells EW.
Allyson Riggs/Hulu
Working closely with West and showrunner Ali Rushfield, Bryant looked inward to authentically tell Annies story.
We just wanted to have a fat character with a normal life, she says.
EW caught up with Bryant ahead ofShrills premiere.
Read our full interview below.Shrilldebuts Friday on Hulu.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So this is your first big TV project.
It was such a crystallization of so many things Id thought previously, put on paper.
I saw so much of my own experience in it.
I loved this book.
My agents were like, Its so weird, they just called us about you lets set the meeting.
It was a very serendipitous, beautiful thing.
It was really nice.
It was a dream scenario and very breezy.
Especially when we were sitting down to be like, What are we going to do here?
[Laughs] Let her have a full, normal life that has friendships and all these positive sides.
That its not just her schlumping around in a big cardigan being like, Im trying to lose weight.
She has a full life, but is tormented by these inner-demons and exterior demons!
But ultimately, this fat character has a lot of stuff going for her.
They really let me take the reins.
I couldve seen them being like, Who are you?
Why do you want to get in there?
Literally: Be a producer!
That is such a thing that almost everybody in the world has felt now.
Someone saying something mean on the internet, its such a jarring experience.
It can feel so violating.
Sometimes it can feel so targeted.
Like, Why does this person hate me?
Like, What is the world?
Lindy is also working on the show.
So much of it, for me, has been so galvanizing.
To get to work with her was such a joy.
Ultimately, she wrote this Bible of our show, which is the book.
She has such an understanding of these issues, and so much empathy and sympathy.
A sense of the bigger picture in injustice.
Shes so good at putting that stuff into words; thats the ultimate gift.
We shot it for a long time.
Carrie Brownstein was our director: There was a lot of improvising!
We were eating Italian food.
It was a really, really fun night.
I thought he was maybe going to die.
[Laughs] It was really fun.
[Laughs] That was so cool.
Those girls were so badass.
They all performed the hell out of it.
It was just so fun to get to sit and watch.
Im wondering what the experience of working in a writers room was like.
OnSNL, you just dont have time for that.
Anything you felt nervous about doing?
Its an element of telling this characters story.
This show is about body and self-worth, and letting go a little bit.
How can you not have sex be part of that?
It would have felt like a lie to exclude that from who she is.
Hes going to rip his clothes off!
We tried to really keep some integrity intact.
Any time I was like, Oh, Im going to take my pants off?
I was like, Well, its serving a purpose.
I just had to do it!
