The actress and writer on her uproarious series portraying the grotty glamour of Gen Z existence
The performer joins the online meeting and immediately launches into an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, seeming truly remorseful. She is only a bit late, she needs to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, for a writer, this is precisely what one hopes to hear. Besides, it’s fairly expected. Those who know her fearlessly openly gay and outspoken project Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and appeared in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—will understand that she has plenty to share, ranging from about identity, sex, or the pros of forming a teen combat group. Furthermore, once you finish the recent eight-part HBO series I Love LA, viewers realize that the star has further insights about the struggles of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she represents a relatable figure of the gang, a tale-end millennial skilled for straddling both generations).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and Sennott readily acknowledges an admirer, referencing the show alongside the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as inspirations for I Love LA, which follows the journey of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and new representative Maia. However, the biggest spot on creative vision went to Entourage, the program about a rising celebrity navigating in a gritty Hollywood (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it during the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and chose to create a new version on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The inspiration for the series originated—partly—from her own, initially fractious, transition to LA and from the astrological phase, a much-talked-about phenomenon for followers. That period marked a phase that included her learn some big life lessons, professionally and in private life. “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. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Humble Origins
Brought up in the East Coast, the star commenced creating and acting humor while pursuing acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott seized control, performing at live shows with Edebiri and posting hysterical (and distinctly) weird comedy videos online. One, titled Baby Cult, followed characters intensely fixated on having babies; a different one envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being stuck in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Seligman through the university’s film scene and eventually featuring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her path, she notes, has been contemporaries supporting her, rather than the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, stating with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Those who questioned about her previously will certainly be feeling foolish now. In what she describes as a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she appears to created the perfect project. A few years back she posted a video named “it’s LA” online, in which she parodied movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a series about Angelenos managing advantages of digital stardom (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being labeled as being a drug-addled criminal, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). Some could easy to create a program about internet celebrity that was extremely glamorous—or, more problematic, one that belittled at its subjects. I Love LA avoids both, making for a portrait of affluent twentysomething living that’s frank about the grot and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
