The performer appears on the video call and at once begins an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, appearing genuinely remorseful. Despite being only a couple of minutes delayed, she feels compelled to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, in this context, that’s exactly what is ideal to encounter. Additionally, it’s quite expected. Those familiar with her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and outspoken project titled Bottoms—that Sennott penned with Emma Seligman and starred in alongside collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will understand that Sennott holds much to share, ranging from on identity, relationships, or the appeal of forming a high-school combat group. Plus, by the end her recent eight-part show titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds further insights about the struggles of modern youth (Now in her thirties, she serves as a bridge for this generation, straddling eras skilled for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott is enthusiastic, citing it together with the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for I Love LA, which details the struggles of an influencer Tallulah and close companion who is also aspiring talent manager portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the biggest presence on concept belonged to the popular sitcom, the show about an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in a gritty entertainment industry (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it amid COVID-19, became “hooked”, and resolved to put her own twist on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The inspiration for this project emerged—to some extent—from her own, originally rocky, move to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about occurrence for enthusiasts. It was an era that included her learn major truths, professionally 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 was almost like these biblical tests …”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in New England, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing comedy while studying performance at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” 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. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She decided to act independently, performing at amateur nights with Ayo and posting hilarious (and decidedly) bizarre comedy videos on the internet. One, titled Baby Cult, centered on several females intensely fixated on pregnancy; a different one portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being trapped in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Seligman through the university’s film scene and ended up featuring in her first film, Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a religious event with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her journey, she notes, has been people her own age supporting her, as opposed to traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she repeats, continuing amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Anyone who had doubts regarding Sennott earlier will surely be feeling foolish now. Through she describes as a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she has created her dream vehicle. A few years back she posted a video called about Los Angeles on social media, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a show about LA residents juggling benefits of online celebrity (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your associate being suspected of being a intoxicated criminal, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). It would be tempting to make a series about internet celebrity that was overly aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at those depicted. The series does neither, making for a representation of advantaged twentysomething existence that’s honest about the grot and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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
