The actress and writer discussing the side-splitting show depicting that grotty glamour of today's youth lifestyle
The star appears on the video call and at once starts an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, seeming genuinely apologetic. Despite being only a bit delayed, she needs to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, during an interview, this is precisely what one hopes to experience. Besides, it’s pretty expected. Anyone who know her boldly LGBTQ+ and brash project Bottoms—which she co-wrote with her creative partner and featured in with close companion The Bear’s standout—will already know that she has much to share, whether about gender, sex, or the pros of creating a high-school fight club. And, after watching the recent seasonal HBO series I Love LA, viewers realize that the star carries additional perspectives on the challenges of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, she represents a relatable figure for this generation, a tale-end millennial skilled for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Creative Vision
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and Sennott readily acknowledges enthusiastic, naming it alongside Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as inspirations for I Love LA, which details the journey of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion who is also aspiring agent portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the most significant spot on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, that show about an emerging Hollywood star navigating in a gritty LA scene (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She began viewing it during lockdown, became “captivated”, and chose to create a new version on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she explains. The inspiration for I Love LA originated—to some extent—from her own, at first rocky, transition to Los Angeles and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed phenomenon for astrology heads. It was an era that saw her understand significant truths, professionally and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in Connecticut, Sennott began creating and acting stand-up while enrolled in acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She seized control, performing at amateur nights with Ayo and uploading uproarious (and decidedly) weird skits online. One, titled Baby Cult, followed several females fetishistically obsessed with having babies; another portrayed being employed at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being caught in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Seligman through campus film circles and ended up featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her career, she says, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, rather than the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, continuing amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who had doubts regarding her earlier will likely be regretting it now. Through she calls a “wild, full-circle” development, she seems to have created her dream vehicle. In 2019 she uploaded content titled “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she parodied film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a series about Angelenos juggling the perks of internet fame (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being accused of being a substance-abusing criminal, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). Some could tempting to make a show about internet celebrity that was overly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that belittled at those depicted. This show steers clear of each, resulting in a representation of advantaged young adult living that’s frank about the chaos and the appeal.
Balanced Perspective
“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