The star appears on the online meeting and immediately starts an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, appearing truly regretful. Despite being only a couple of minutes late, she feels compelled to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, in this context, this is just what you want to hear. Moreover, it’s pretty expected. Anyone who know the unapologetically openly gay and outspoken project Bottoms—which she co-wrote with Emma Seligman and appeared in together with collaborator the talented actress—will understand that Sennott possesses a lot to discuss, be it about gender, relationships, or the merits of creating a high-school fight club. Plus, after watching the recent multi-episode program titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she carries additional insights regarding the struggles of young adulthood (As a millennial, she represents a bridge of the gang, a tale-end millennial skilled for straddling different age groups).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being enthusiastic, naming the show alongside the HBO hit, Insecure and Atlanta as influences for the project, which follows the struggles of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and aspiring talent manager Sennott’s character. Notably, the most significant influence on creative vision was reserved for the HBO series, that program about a rising A-list actor navigating in an often-seedy entertainment industry (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She started watching it during lockdown, became “hooked”, and chose to put her own twist 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 notes. The idea for this project emerged—to some extent—from personal, originally difficult, move to LA and from her saturn return, a frequently discussed phenomenon for astrology heads. That period marked an era that involved her learn major truths, professionally and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Brought up in Connecticut, Sennott commenced writing and performing stand-up while studying acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she states. “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. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and posting hysterical (and very) weird online content digitally. One, Baby Cult, centered on characters fetishistically drawn to pregnancy; another envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being caught in a horror film. By chance, she encountered Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a religious event with hints of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her journey, she notes, has been people her own age giving her a shot, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, continuing humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Anyone who were skeptical regarding Sennott earlier will certainly be feeling foolish now. Through she labels a “wild, full-circle” story, she has manifested her dream vehicle. A few years back she posted a video titled about Los Angeles on social media, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a comedy about LA residents juggling the perks of internet fame (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your associate being accused of being a drug-addled criminal, and potentially becoming a risky persona non grata). Some could simple to make a show about digital influence that was extremely aspirational—or, worse, one that punched down at its subjects. I Love LA does neither, making for a portrait of privileged young adult existence that’s honest about the chaos and the appeal.
Empathetic Approach
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
