The star enters the online meeting and right away launches into an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, seeming genuinely remorseful. She is only slightly late, she feels compelled to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, during an interview, this is exactly what one hopes to encounter. Besides, it’s pretty predictable. Those familiar with the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—that she co-wrote with the director and starred in alongside collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that Sennott possesses much to say, be it on identity, relationships, or the merits of forming a youth brawl society. Furthermore, after watching her recent multi-episode show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she carries further insights regarding the struggles of young adulthood (At 30, Sennott is an honorary member to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial adept for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Creative Vision
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being a fan, referencing the show in addition to Sex and the City, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for the project, which details the journey of an influencer Tallulah and ally and fledgling agent Maia. Perhaps, the largest influence on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, that show about an emerging A-list actor making his way in an often-seedy LA scene (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it throughout the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and chose to create a new version on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The inspiration for I Love LA originated—to some extent—from her own, initially fractious, move to Los Angeles and from the astrological phase, a popular occurrence for enthusiasts. That period marked a phase that involved her understand major insights, in her career and in private life. “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. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Raised in Connecticut, Sennott began creating and acting stand-up while pursuing acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at amateur nights with her friend and sharing hilarious (and decidedly) bizarre comedy videos digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted several females obsessively obsessed with pregnancy; another imagined being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being stuck in a scary movie. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through the university’s film scene and ended up starring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her career, she explains, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, rather than traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, stating with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who questioned about Sennott then will surely be feeling foolish today. As part of she labels a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she has achieved an ideal role. In 2019 she uploaded a video called on LA life online, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a series about Angelenos managing the perks of internet fame (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being accused of being a drug-addled criminal, and perhaps becoming a risky pariah). Some could simple to produce a series about internet celebrity that was overly glamorous—or, worse, one that mocked at the characters. This show does neither, making for a depiction of affluent millennial existence that’s honest about the grot and the glamour.
Empathetic Approach
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
