The star enters the digital interview and at once starts an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, seeming genuinely apologetic. Despite being only a bit late, she feels compelled 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, during an interview, this is just what is ideal to encounter. Additionally, it’s fairly predictable. Those who know the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and outspoken project Bottoms—that she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and featured in with close companion the talented actress—would already know that Sennott has a lot to say, whether on gender, sex, or the appeal of forming a high-school brawl society. And, after watching her recent multi-episode HBO series I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries further perspectives on the challenges of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as a relatable figure of the gang, a tale-end millennial skilled for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges an admirer, referencing it together with the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as influences for I Love LA, which details the journey of an influencer Tallulah and close companion and new agent Sennott’s character. Notably, the biggest influence on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, that show depicting a rising A-list actor succeeding in a gritty entertainment industry (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She discovered it throughout the pandemic, became “hooked”, and decided to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she explains. The inspiration for I Love LA came—in part—from firsthand, at first rocky, transition to Los Angeles and from the cosmic event, a much-talked-about occurrence for astrology heads. That period marked a time that involved her grasp some big insights, work-wise 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. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in the East Coast, Sennott began creating and acting comedy while enrolled in performance at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She took matters into her own hands, performing at amateur nights with Edebiri and uploading hysterical (and decidedly) weird online content on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on characters fetishistically obsessed with motherhood; another imagined being employed at the brand Hollister as similar to being trapped in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and eventually featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the intense thriller. The big theme of her path, she explains, has been peers supporting her, as opposed to the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she repeats, continuing humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who questioned about Sennott previously will likely be feeling foolish currently. Through she describes as a “wild, full-circle” development, she has created the perfect project. A few years back she uploaded a clip called on LA life on social media, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a comedy about Angelenos balancing the perks of internet fame (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your associate being accused of being a drug-addled stealer, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). It would be simple to create a show about internet celebrity that was horribly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that belittled at the characters. This show avoids both, making for a representation of advantaged twentysomething living 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 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