The performer joins the online meeting and right away launches into an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, sounding truly apologetic. She is only a couple of minutes late, she needs to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Fortunately, for a writer, this is exactly what one hopes to experience. Besides, it’s quite expected. Anyone who have seen her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and brash project Bottoms—that she co-wrote with the director and appeared in with close companion Ayo Edebiri—can already know that she has plenty to share, ranging from on roles, intimacy, or the pros of forming a teen combat group. Plus, by the end the recent multi-episode show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she holds even more perspectives about the challenges of Gen Z life (At 30, Sennott serves as a relatable figure of the gang, straddling eras with a knack for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and Sennott is an admirer, naming the show alongside the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as influences for her series, which details the struggles of an influencer Tallulah and close companion who is also new talent manager Sennott’s character. Notably, the biggest presence on concept was reserved for Entourage, the show depicting an emerging Hollywood star making his way in a gritty entertainment industry (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it during lockdown, became “obsessed”, and decided to create a new version 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 explains. The concept for the series came—to some extent—from her own, initially fractious, relocation to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a popular event for enthusiasts. That period marked a time that included her learn major truths, professionally and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Growing up in the East Coast, the star commenced developing and showcasing stand-up while studying performance 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.” 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 decided to act independently, performing at live shows with Edebiri and posting hilarious (and distinctly) unconventional skits on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted several females obsessively drawn to pregnancy; another envisioned working at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being trapped in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and eventually starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a funeral gathering with shades of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her career, she notes, has been people her own age offering opportunities, instead of the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, adding amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who were skeptical about Sennott previously will likely be regretting it today. Through she labels a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she seems to have created the perfect project. In 2019 she uploaded content named on LA life on social media, in which she lampooned movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a show about LA residents juggling the perks of online celebrity (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your client being accused of being a intoxicated thief, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). One might tempting to create a series about online fame that was extremely idealized—or, more problematic, one that mocked at those depicted. This show avoids both, making for a representation of affluent young adult life that’s candid about the grot and the glamour.
Empathetic Approach
“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
