The actress and writer discussing her hilarious series portraying the grotty glamour of Gen Z life
The performer appears on the online meeting and at once starts an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, seeming really remorseful. Although she's only slightly delayed, she feels compelled to justify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, during an interview, this is just what you want to encounter. Besides, it’s fairly expected. Those familiar with her unapologetically queer and unapologetically crass project Bottoms—which Sennott penned with Emma Seligman and starred in alongside her friend Ayo Edebiri—will understand that she holds much to say, ranging from about identity, relationships, or the appeal of creating a high-school fight club. And, after watching her recent eight-part program titled I Love LA, it is clear that she holds further thoughts about the challenges of modern youth (At 30, Sennott serves as an honorary member of the gang, straddling eras skilled for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Artistic Direction
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being an admirer, referencing it in addition to Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as influences for I Love LA, which details the journey of an influencer Tallulah and ally who is also new agent Sennott’s character. Notably, the largest spot on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, that HBO sitcom focusing on an up-and-coming A-list actor making his way in an often-seedy LA scene (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it throughout the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and decided to put her own twist 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 notes. The idea for this project originated—in part—from her own, initially difficult, relocation to LA and from the saturn return, a popular phenomenon for astrology heads. This represented an era that involved her learn significant insights, work-wise and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Growing up in Connecticut, the star started writing and performing humor while enrolled in performance at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She seized control, performing at amateur nights with Ayo and sharing hilarious (and very) weird skits online. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted several females fetishistically obsessed with having babies; another imagined working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being caught in a scary movie. By chance, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and eventually starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a Jewish wake with hints of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her career, she notes, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, instead of established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she repeats, adding with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who had doubts about Sennott earlier will surely be feeling foolish now. Through she calls a “wild, full-circle” story, she has created the perfect project. A few years back she uploaded content titled on LA life online, in which she lampooned 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 managing the perks of internet fame (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your associate being labeled as being a drug-addled criminal, and perhaps becoming a risky pariah). It would be tempting to produce a show about online fame that was extremely glamorous—or, more problematic, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA steers clear of each, making for a portrait of advantaged twentysomething living that’s candid about the mess and the shine.
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