The star appears on the digital interview and right away launches into an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, appearing really remorseful. Although she's only slightly late, she needs to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, in this context, this is just what you want to hear. Besides, it’s quite expected. Viewers who know the fearlessly queer and outspoken film Bottoms—that she penned with the director and featured in together with collaborator the talented actress—would already know that Sennott possesses much to discuss, be it on identity, sex, or the pros of forming a high-school brawl society. Plus, after watching her recent multi-episode program titled I Love LA, it is clear that she holds further perspectives about the challenges of modern youth (At 30, she represents a relatable figure to younger audiences, on the cusp skilled for connecting different age groups).
Influences and Creative Vision
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and Sennott is an admirer, referencing the show alongside the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as influences for I Love LA, which tracks the journey of a social media star Tallulah and close companion who is also fledgling representative Maia. Perhaps, the most significant presence on creative vision belonged to the popular sitcom, that show about an up-and-coming A-list actor succeeding in a corrupt LA scene (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it throughout lockdown, became “captivated”, and resolved 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 idea for the series came—partly—from personal, originally rocky, move to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about occurrence for followers. This represented a time that saw her understand significant truths, professionally and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Growing up in Connecticut, Sennott commenced writing and performing stand-up while enrolled in performance 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 states. “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.”
She took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at amateur nights with Edebiri and sharing uproarious (and decidedly) unconventional skits online. One, titled Baby Cult, centered on a group of women obsessively fixated on having babies; another portrayed being employed at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being trapped in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a religious event with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her career, she notes, has been people her own age supporting her, rather than established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she repeats, continuing with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who had doubts about Sennott earlier will surely be kicking themselves currently. In what she describes as a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she appears to created the perfect project. In 2019 she uploaded a clip titled about Los Angeles online, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a show about city dwellers juggling the perks of internet fame (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being accused of being a substance-abusing thief, and perhaps becoming a unreliable outcast). It would be tempting to produce a series about internet celebrity that was overly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that mocked at its subjects. The series steers clear of each, creating a depiction of privileged young adult life that’s candid about the chaos and the shine.
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 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