The actress and writer on her hilarious comedy about the messy glamour of younger generation existence
The performer joins the digital interview and immediately begins an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, seeming really regretful. Although she's only a bit delayed, she needs to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, for a writer, this is exactly what one hopes to hear. Besides, it’s fairly expected. Viewers familiar with the unapologetically queer and brash project Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and appeared in together with her friend The Bear’s standout—can understand that Sennott holds plenty to discuss, ranging from on roles, sex, or the pros of creating a youth fight club. And, once you finish her new eight-part program titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries additional perspectives about the darker side of modern youth (As a millennial, she serves as a relatable figure for this generation, straddling eras with a knack for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Creative Vision
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, naming it in addition to the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as guides for I Love LA, which tracks the journey of an influencer Tallulah and close companion and aspiring agent Maia. Notably, the largest influence on the moodboard belonged to the HBO series, the show focusing on an up-and-coming A-list actor navigating in a gritty entertainment industry (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it amid COVID-19, 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 explains. The idea for this project emerged—in part—from personal, at first difficult, move to Los Angeles and from the cosmic event, a frequently discussed phenomenon for followers. This represented a time that involved her grasp some big truths, in her career and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” 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 resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Starting Out
Brought up in New England, Sennott began writing and performing humor while pursuing acting 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 explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott decided to act independently, taking the stage at open mics with Ayo and uploading hilarious (and very) weird online content on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on a group of women fetishistically drawn to pregnancy; a different one portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being caught in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she met Seligman through campus film circles and ended up appearing in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her path, she explains, has been people her own age offering opportunities, instead of established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, stating amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who had doubts regarding Sennott previously will likely be kicking themselves now. Through she labels a “wild, full-circle” development, she has manifested an ideal role. In 2019 she uploaded a video named about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a series about LA residents managing benefits of digital stardom (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being suspected of being a drug-addled stealer, and perhaps becoming a risky persona non grata). It would be easy to produce a show about digital influence that was horribly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that punched down at the characters. I Love LA does neither, making for a depiction of advantaged young adult living that’s honest about the chaos and the appeal.
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 comments. “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