The performer appears on the digital interview and at once launches into an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, seeming really regretful. Despite being only a bit late, she feels compelled to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, during an interview, this is exactly what you want to experience. Additionally, it’s fairly unsurprising. Those familiar with her unapologetically openly gay and unapologetically crass movie titled Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with Emma Seligman and starred in with collaborator the talented actress—will be aware that she holds a lot to share, whether on identity, intimacy, or the merits of forming a youth combat group. Plus, after watching her recent multi-episode HBO series I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries further thoughts about the challenges of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as an honorary member of the gang, straddling eras adept for connecting both generations).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and the actress is an admirer, citing the show alongside the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as influences for her series, which tracks the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion who is also aspiring representative portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the biggest presence on the moodboard went to the popular sitcom, that program depicting a rising A-list actor navigating in an often-seedy entertainment industry (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it amid the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and decided to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she notes. The inspiration for the series originated—in part—from personal, at first fractious, move to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about event for astrology heads. That period marked a phase that included her learn some big truths, work-wise and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Early Beginnings
Brought up in New England, Sennott started writing and performing humor while enrolled in acting at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She seized control, taking the stage at open mics with Ayo and sharing uproarious (and very) unconventional skits online. One, Baby Cult, depicted several females intensely obsessed with having babies; a different one envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being stuck in a thriller. By chance, she met Seligman through NYU’s movie community and eventually appearing in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a religious event with echoes of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her journey, she explains, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, instead of traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, adding amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who questioned about Sennott earlier will certainly be regretting it now. As part of she calls a “wild, full-circle” story, she has manifested an ideal role. A few years back she uploaded a video named on LA life online, in which she lampooned movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a show about Angelenos balancing the perks of internet fame (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your client being suspected of being a intoxicated criminal, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). It would be simple to make a program about online fame that was extremely glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at its subjects. I Love LA does neither, creating a representation of privileged twentysomething life 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
