The star appears on the online meeting and immediately starts an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, seeming truly apologetic. Although she's only slightly delayed, 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!” Luckily, during an interview, this is exactly what is ideal to experience. Additionally, it’s quite predictable. Those who know the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—which Sennott penned with Emma Seligman and starred in alongside close companion Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that Sennott holds plenty to discuss, be it about gender, intimacy, or the merits of forming a youth brawl society. Plus, by the end her recent seasonal HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star holds even more insights regarding the darker side of modern youth (Now in her thirties, she represents a bridge to younger audiences, on the cusp skilled for bridging different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, referencing the show alongside the HBO hit, Insecure and Atlanta as inspirations for I Love LA, which tracks the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and aspiring talent manager Maia. However, the largest influence on concept belonged to the popular sitcom, the program focusing on an emerging A-list actor succeeding in a corrupt entertainment industry (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She began viewing it throughout COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective 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 the series originated—to some extent—from her own, initially fractious, move to Tinseltown and from the saturn return, a much-talked-about event for followers. It was a time that saw her grasp significant insights, professionally and in private life. “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 was almost like these biblical tests …”
Early Beginnings
Brought up in Connecticut, Sennott commenced creating and acting humor while pursuing theatre at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She seized control, performing at open mics with Edebiri and sharing hilarious (and very) bizarre skits online. One, titled Baby Cult, centered on several females obsessively fixated on having babies; another imagined being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being caught in a scary movie. Interestingly, she met Seligman through NYU’s movie community and eventually featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been peers giving her a shot, as opposed to established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, adding humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who questioned regarding her previously will surely be feeling foolish now. Through she describes as a “wild, full-circle” story, she seems to have created her dream vehicle. A few years back she shared a video titled “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a comedy about city dwellers balancing benefits of internet fame (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being accused of being a intoxicated stealer, and perhaps becoming a unreliable persona non grata). It would be easy to make a series about digital influence that was horribly glamorous—or, worse, one that belittled at the characters. This show steers clear of each, resulting in a representation of advantaged twentysomething life that’s frank about the grot and the appeal.
Empathetic Approach
“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
