The star joins the video call and right away begins an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, appearing truly regretful. Despite being only a bit late, she needs to justify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, in this context, that’s precisely what you want to encounter. Moreover, it’s quite predictable. Viewers who have seen the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass movie Bottoms—that she co-wrote with her creative partner and appeared in alongside collaborator The Bear’s standout—would already know that Sennott has a lot to discuss, ranging from about identity, relationships, or the appeal of creating a teen combat group. And, by the end the latest seasonal show titled I Love LA, it is clear that she carries further insights on the struggles of Gen Z life (At 30, she serves as an honorary member to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial skilled for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being an admirer, referencing the show in addition to the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as influences for the project, which tracks the journey of an influencer Tallulah and ally who is also aspiring agent Sennott’s character. However, the most significant influence on the moodboard went to the popular sitcom, that show depicting an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt entertainment industry (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it throughout lockdown, became “captivated”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective 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 says. The concept for this project originated—in part—from personal, originally rocky, move to LA and from the saturn return, a much-talked-about occurrence for astrology heads. That period marked an era that included her understand major insights, in her career and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Brought up in New England, the star started creating and acting comedy while enrolled in theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She decided to act independently, performing at amateur nights with Edebiri and sharing hysterical (and very) unconventional comedy videos online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters obsessively drawn to pregnancy; a different one envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being caught in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately starring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a funeral gathering with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her journey, she says, has been people her own age giving her a shot, as opposed to established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she repeats, stating with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who had doubts regarding Sennott then will likely be feeling foolish currently. Through she describes as a “wild, full-circle” story, she appears to achieved an ideal role. In 2019 she uploaded content called on LA life online, in which she lampooned film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a series about city dwellers managing benefits of online celebrity (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your associate being labeled as being a intoxicated stealer, and potentially becoming a unreliable pariah). Some could tempting to make a show about internet celebrity that was overly idealized—or, more problematic, one that punched down at the characters. The series steers clear of each, creating a representation of affluent 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
