The performer joins the digital interview and right away begins an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, sounding genuinely regretful. Despite being only slightly behind, she wants to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Fortunately, for a writer, this is exactly what one hopes to encounter. Moreover, it’s quite predictable. Those who have seen her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and outspoken film titled Bottoms—which she co-wrote with her creative partner and appeared in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—would understand that Sennott has plenty to say, whether about identity, relationships, or the merits of starting a high-school brawl society. Plus, by the end her latest eight-part show I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds further thoughts on the challenges of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as a relatable figure for this generation, on the cusp adept for straddling both generations).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and Sennott readily acknowledges a fan, naming it together with the classic series, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as influences for her series, which follows the travails of an influencer Tallulah and close companion and fledgling talent manager Sennott’s character. However, the most significant presence on the moodboard went to Entourage, the HBO sitcom depicting an up-and-coming A-list actor making his way in a corrupt entertainment industry (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it throughout COVID-19, became “captivated”, 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 notes. The concept for this project came—in part—from her own, initially rocky, transition to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a much-talked-about event for astrology heads. It was an era that included her understand major life lessons, in her career and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “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
Growing up in the East Coast, the star began writing and performing humor while studying theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She took matters into her own hands, appearing at live shows with Ayo and sharing hilarious (and decidedly) unconventional online content online. One, titled Baby Cult, followed characters intensely obsessed with having babies; another portrayed working at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being caught in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she met Seligman through campus film circles and ended up starring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her path, she says, has been peers giving her a shot, rather than the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she repeats, continuing amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Those who were skeptical about Sennott previously will certainly be feeling foolish currently. In what she calls a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she has achieved her dream vehicle. In 2019 she posted content titled on LA life online, in which she parodied film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a show about Angelenos managing benefits of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being suspected of being a substance-abusing criminal, and potentially becoming a risky outcast). One might tempting to make a show about online fame that was extremely idealized—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at the characters. The series avoids both, resulting in a depiction of advantaged young adult existence that’s candid 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 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
