The actress and writer on her hilarious show depicting the chaotic allure of Gen Z life
The star joins the digital interview and immediately launches into an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, sounding genuinely regretful. Although she's only slightly behind, she needs 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!” Thankfully, in this context, that’s exactly what is ideal to hear. Additionally, it’s quite expected. Viewers familiar with the boldly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with her creative partner and appeared in alongside collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that Sennott holds plenty to share, be it about gender, sex, or the merits of creating a high-school combat group. Furthermore, once you finish her latest seasonal program I Love LA, it is clear that she has additional insights about the struggles of modern youth (Now in her thirties, Sennott is a bridge of the gang, on the cusp with a knack for bridging both generations).
Influences and Creative Vision
Parallels to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott admits to being a fan, citing the show together with the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as influences for I Love LA, which follows the struggles of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and new talent manager Maia. Notably, the biggest influence on the moodboard went to the HBO series, the program depicting an emerging A-list actor making his way in a corrupt Hollywood (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it amid COVID-19, became “hooked”, and resolved to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she notes. The inspiration for the series emerged—partly—from personal, originally fractious, transition to Tinseltown and from the astrological phase, a popular occurrence for astrology heads. It was an era that saw her understand some big life lessons, in her career and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Raised in Connecticut, the star began developing and showcasing humor while enrolled in theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “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. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott decided to act independently, performing at open mics with Edebiri and sharing uproarious (and very) weird skits digitally. One, Baby Cult, followed a group of women intensely drawn to pregnancy; a different one imagined being employed at the brand Hollister as like being stuck in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Emma through NYU’s movie community and eventually featuring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her journey, she says, has been contemporaries supporting her, rather than established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she repeats, stating amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who questioned regarding Sennott then will certainly be feeling foolish currently. Through she labels a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she appears to created an ideal role. In 2019 she posted content titled on LA life online, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a show about Angelenos balancing advantages of online celebrity (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being labeled as being a substance-abusing criminal, and potentially becoming a unreliable pariah). One might easy to make a series about online fame that was extremely aspirational—or, worse, one that belittled at its subjects. The series steers clear of each, making for a representation of advantaged young adult existence that’s frank about the grot and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“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
