The next time I’m asked to give a bunch of young hopefuls advice, I am going to cut to the chase and give one two-pronged directive about how to succeed in this business:

If you have a niche or a thing – like if you become popular for a particular brand or show – for the love of God, don’t spend all your time trying to distance yourself from that brand, or… Don’t Take Yourself Too Goddamn Seriously. 

 

The object lesson will be this exchange between Jenna Ortega and Aubrey Plaza. 

Here are two women who are 20 years apart in their careers. One just starting out with a buzzy show (okay yes, relatively speaking. Yes, I know about the McDonald’s commercials) and the other’s been on a hot streak for years – this could have gone very differently. 

 

Two other people might have resented being compared to one another, or protested that they were so much more than just a deadpan affect, or ‘why are you lumping us together, like ugh...’ In short, with other combinations of performers (and maybe at a different event? Do I have a crush on the 2023 SAGs?) this could have been a non-starter. 

Instead it was just f*cking funny, and made them both iconic to each other’s fans as a bonus. Look, I don’t mean to stereotype, but it’s this kind of smart awareness about who you are and what you can do that has made Christina Ricci’s career… maybe it’s not a coincidence.