The performer enters the video call and immediately launches into an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, sounding truly regretful. Despite being only a couple of minutes late, she feels compelled to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, during an interview, that’s just what one hopes to experience. Besides, it’s fairly unsurprising. Viewers who have seen the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass movie titled Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and starred in alongside her friend Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that Sennott holds plenty to discuss, be it about identity, relationships, or the merits of creating a teen brawl society. Furthermore, once you finish her latest eight-part program I Love LA, it is clear that she carries additional insights on the challenges of young adulthood (At 30, Sennott represents an honorary member for this generation, a tale-end millennial with a knack for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
Parallels to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and the actress is a fan, referencing the show together with the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as influences for the project, which follows the travails of online personality Tallulah and her friend who is also new talent manager portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the largest presence on creative vision went to Entourage, that show depicting an up-and-coming Hollywood star succeeding in a gritty Hollywood (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She started watching it throughout the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she notes. The concept for the series originated—in part—from personal, at first rocky, relocation to Tinseltown and from the saturn return, a much-talked-about event for followers. It was an era that saw her learn significant truths, in her career and personally. “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. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Humble Origins
Brought up in Connecticut, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing stand-up while studying acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott seized control, performing at open mics with Ayo and sharing uproarious (and very) unconventional skits digitally. One, Baby Cult, depicted characters intensely drawn to pregnancy; a different one imagined working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being caught in a thriller. By chance, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and ultimately featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her path, she notes, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, instead of traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she confirms, stating amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Anyone who had doubts about her earlier will certainly be feeling foolish today. As part of she describes as a “wild, full-circle” development, she has manifested her dream vehicle. In 2019 she posted content named on LA life on the internet, in which she lampooned film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a series about city dwellers balancing the perks of online celebrity (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being suspected of being a intoxicated criminal, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). Some could tempting to create a series about online fame that was horribly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that belittled at those depicted. This show does neither, resulting in a representation of affluent young adult living that’s candid 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
