The performer joins the digital interview and right away begins an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, sounding genuinely regretful. Although she's only slightly behind, she wants to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, for a writer, this is just what is ideal to hear. Additionally, it’s pretty unsurprising. Viewers who have seen the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and outspoken movie titled Bottoms—that she penned with the director and featured in together with her friend The Bear’s standout—would already know that she possesses a lot to share, ranging from on identity, sex, or the pros of forming a youth combat group. Plus, by the end her latest eight-part show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has further thoughts about the struggles of Gen Z life (As a millennial, Sennott serves as an honorary member for this generation, straddling eras skilled for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott admits to being a fan, citing the show in addition to the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as inspirations for I Love LA, which details the struggles of an influencer Tallulah and ally and aspiring agent Maia. Notably, the largest presence on creative vision belonged to the popular sitcom, the program depicting a rising Hollywood star succeeding in a gritty entertainment industry (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott started watching it amid COVID-19, became “hooked”, and resolved to put her own twist on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The inspiration for this project came—partly—from personal, originally difficult, transition to Los Angeles and from her cosmic event, a much-talked-about phenomenon for astrology heads. That period marked a phase that saw her grasp major truths, work-wise and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Growing up in New England, the star commenced writing and performing humor while pursuing acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott decided to act independently, performing at amateur nights with Ayo and sharing hysterical (and decidedly) weird online content online. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed a group of women fetishistically obsessed with motherhood; another envisioned working at the brand Hollister as like being caught in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Seligman through campus film circles and eventually appearing in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her journey, she explains, has been contemporaries supporting her, rather than the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, adding amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Those who questioned regarding her then will likely be kicking themselves today. In what she calls a “wild, full-circle” development, she seems to have achieved the perfect project. A few years back she shared content named about Los Angeles online, in which she parodied film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a show about city dwellers managing advantages of online celebrity (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your friend being labeled as being a drug-addled stealer, and possibly becoming a risky outcast). One might tempting to make a show about online fame that was overly idealized—or, worse, one that belittled at its subjects. This show steers clear of each, making for a depiction of advantaged young adult living that’s candid about the grot and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” she observes. “I think that young people have been through a lot – I’m mostly thinking of people younger than me, like my little sister, who went to college during Covid, so she had to come home, or my other sister who was doing school online.”|“The younger generation has faced significant
