The star enters the online meeting and at once starts an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, sounding genuinely remorseful. Despite being only a bit behind, she wants to justify. “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, during an interview, that’s precisely what you want to encounter. Besides, it’s fairly predictable. Those who know her unapologetically queer and outspoken movie titled Bottoms—which she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and appeared in together with her friend the talented actress—will understand that Sennott holds a lot to share, ranging from on identity, relationships, or the appeal of forming a youth brawl society. Plus, after watching her latest multi-episode program I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries further perspectives about the struggles of young adulthood (As a millennial, she is an honorary member of the gang, on the cusp skilled for straddling different age groups).
Influences and Creative Vision
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and the actress readily acknowledges enthusiastic, referencing the show alongside the classic series, Insecure and the innovative program as guides for I Love LA, which tracks the travails of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and fledgling talent manager Maia. Perhaps, the largest influence on creative vision went to Entourage, the HBO sitcom about an up-and-coming celebrity succeeding in a gritty Hollywood (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She started watching it amid lockdown, became “obsessed”, and chose to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The idea for I Love LA emerged—in part—from firsthand, at first difficult, transition to LA and from the cosmic event, a frequently discussed phenomenon for followers. It was a phase that included her learn some big truths, professionally and personally. “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 resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Humble Origins
Raised in the East Coast, Sennott commenced creating and acting stand-up while enrolled in performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at live shows with Ayo and posting uproarious (and decidedly) unconventional skits digitally. One, Baby Cult, centered on a group of women fetishistically fixated on pregnancy; a different one portrayed working at the brand Hollister as like being trapped in a horror film. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ended up featuring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a Jewish wake with hints of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she says, has been peers supporting her, rather than traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, stating humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who had doubts about Sennott previously will likely be kicking themselves today. As part of she calls a “astonishingly complete” development, she appears to achieved her dream vehicle. A few years back she uploaded a video titled on LA life on the internet, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a show about Angelenos balancing advantages of online celebrity (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your friend being labeled as being a substance-abusing stealer, and possibly becoming a risky persona non grata). It would be easy to create a series about internet celebrity that was horribly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that belittled at those depicted. The series avoids both, making for a depiction of affluent young adult living that’s honest about the grot and the appeal.
Balanced Perspective
“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
