The star enters the online meeting and right away starts an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, seeming really remorseful. She is only a couple of minutes behind, she wants to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, during an interview, this is exactly what is ideal to hear. Besides, it’s quite expected. Those who have seen her fearlessly openly gay and brash project Bottoms—that she co-wrote with Emma Seligman and featured in alongside close companion the talented actress—will already know that Sennott possesses plenty to say, be it about roles, intimacy, or the appeal of creating a teen brawl society. Plus, by the end her new seasonal program I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds additional insights on the challenges of Gen Z life (At 30, she is a relatable figure for this generation, straddling eras skilled for bridging both generations).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and Sennott readily acknowledges enthusiastic, referencing the show alongside the HBO hit, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as guides for her series, which tracks the journey of a social media star Tallulah and her friend and aspiring agent portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the most significant influence on concept went to the HBO series, the show depicting an up-and-coming Hollywood star succeeding in an often-seedy LA scene (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott started watching it amid lockdown, became “captivated”, and decided to add a fresh perspective 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 says. The idea for the series came—in part—from personal, originally rocky, relocation to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about event for followers. It was an era that involved her learn some big truths, professionally and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “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 …”
Starting Out
Brought up in New England, Sennott started creating and acting comedy while studying theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She took matters into her own hands, appearing at open mics with Edebiri and uploading hilarious (and very) bizarre online content on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted characters intensely obsessed with pregnancy; another imagined working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being stuck in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a Jewish wake with echoes of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her journey, she says, has been people her own age offering opportunities, instead of established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, stating amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Anyone who had doubts about Sennott then will likely be feeling foolish today. As part of she labels a “astonishingly complete” story, she appears to created her dream vehicle. In 2019 she shared a video titled “it’s LA” on social media, in which she parodied movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a show about Angelenos balancing advantages of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your client being labeled as being a substance-abusing stealer, and perhaps becoming a unreliable persona non grata). One might tempting to produce a series about digital influence that was horribly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that belittled at its subjects. I Love LA does neither, making for a portrait of privileged twentysomething life that’s honest about the chaos and the glamour.
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
