The star joins the digital interview and right away begins an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, appearing truly apologetic. She is only a bit late, she feels compelled to justify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, in this context, that’s precisely what you want to experience. Moreover, it’s fairly predictable. Those familiar with the boldly queer and brash project Bottoms—which she penned with the director and starred in together with collaborator the talented actress—will be aware that Sennott has much to discuss, be it on roles, sex, or the pros of forming a youth combat group. Plus, by the end her latest seasonal HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that she holds even more thoughts regarding the challenges of Gen Z life (At 30, she is a bridge to younger audiences, straddling eras with a knack for bridging both generations).
Influences and Creative Vision
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is a fan, naming it alongside the classic series, Insecure and Atlanta as influences for I Love LA, which details the travails of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and new talent manager Maia. Notably, the most significant influence on creative vision was reserved for the popular sitcom, that HBO sitcom about an up-and-coming Hollywood star succeeding in an often-seedy entertainment industry (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott discovered it throughout lockdown, became “obsessed”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The inspiration for I Love LA emerged—in part—from her own, initially rocky, transition to Tinseltown and from her saturn return, a much-talked-about phenomenon for followers. It was an era that involved her grasp major life lessons, work-wise and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Humble Origins
Raised in Connecticut, Sennott commenced creating and acting stand-up while pursuing performance at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at open mics with her friend and uploading hilarious (and very) unconventional comedy videos online. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed a group of women obsessively fixated on pregnancy; a different one envisioned being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being trapped in a horror film. By chance, she connected with Seligman through NYU’s movie community and eventually starring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her path, she explains, has been peers giving her a shot, instead of established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, stating humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who had doubts regarding her previously will certainly be feeling foolish today. Through she calls a “incredibly circular” development, she seems to have manifested an ideal role. A few years back she shared a clip titled about Los Angeles on social media, in which she parodied movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a series about LA residents managing benefits of online celebrity (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being labeled as being a drug-addled thief, and possibly becoming a unreliable pariah). It would be tempting to make a series about online fame that was overly idealized—or, more problematic, one that belittled at the characters. This show does neither, creating a depiction of privileged millennial existence that’s frank about the chaos and the appeal.
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
