The performer appears on the video call and immediately launches into an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, seeming really remorseful. Despite being only a bit delayed, she wants to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, during an interview, this is exactly what one hopes to hear. Besides, it’s pretty expected. Those familiar with the unapologetically queer and unapologetically crass project Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with the director and starred in with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—would already know that Sennott holds much to share, whether about gender, sex, or the merits of starting a high-school fight club. And, once you finish her new seasonal show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she holds further insights about the darker side of modern youth (At 30, she serves as a relatable figure for this generation, a tale-end millennial skilled for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being a fan, referencing it together with the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as guides for I Love LA, which details the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and fledgling agent Sennott’s character. Notably, the biggest spot on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, the HBO sitcom focusing on an emerging A-list actor navigating in a corrupt entertainment industry (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it throughout COVID-19, became “hooked”, and decided 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—to some extent—from personal, originally difficult, move to LA and from her cosmic event, a much-talked-about event for astrology heads. That period marked an era that involved her understand significant life lessons, professionally and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Early Beginnings
Brought up in Connecticut, the star started developing and showcasing 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 states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She took matters into her own hands, performing at open mics with Ayo and uploading hilarious (and decidedly) weird online content digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted characters fetishistically fixated on motherhood; a different one imagined working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being trapped in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Emma through NYU’s movie community and ultimately featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a Jewish wake with hints of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been people her own age giving her a shot, instead of the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, continuing amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who were skeptical about Sennott earlier will surely be kicking themselves currently. Through she describes as a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she appears to manifested an ideal role. In 2019 she uploaded a video titled about Los Angeles online, in which she lampooned film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a show about LA residents balancing benefits of digital stardom (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your client being accused of being a drug-addled stealer, and perhaps becoming a risky outcast). One might simple to produce a show about internet celebrity that was overly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at the characters. The series does neither, making for a portrait of affluent millennial living that’s honest about the grot and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” she says. “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
