The star enters the digital interview and right away launches into an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, seeming really remorseful. She is only a couple of minutes behind, she feels compelled to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, during an interview, that’s exactly what one hopes to encounter. Moreover, it’s quite predictable. Those familiar with the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and brash project titled Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and featured in together with her friend Ayo Edebiri—would already know that Sennott possesses plenty to discuss, whether on roles, intimacy, or the pros of forming a youth brawl society. Plus, after watching her latest eight-part show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she holds additional perspectives on the challenges of young adulthood (At 30, she is an honorary member to younger audiences, straddling eras adept for connecting both generations).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and the actress readily acknowledges enthusiastic, naming the show together with Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as guides for the project, which follows the struggles of a social media star Tallulah and ally and aspiring agent Maia. However, the most significant influence on the moodboard went to Entourage, that program focusing on a rising celebrity succeeding in an often-seedy Hollywood (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She began viewing it amid lockdown, became “obsessed”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The inspiration for this project came—partly—from her own, originally difficult, move to LA and from the cosmic event, a much-talked-about event for enthusiasts. This represented a phase that included her learn some big truths, professionally and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Starting Out
Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott started developing and showcasing humor while pursuing theatre at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “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 decided to act independently, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and sharing hysterical (and decidedly) bizarre comedy videos on the internet. One, Baby Cult, depicted characters obsessively obsessed with motherhood; another portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being caught in a thriller. Interestingly, she connected with Emma through campus film circles and ultimately starring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the intense thriller. The central motif of her path, she explains, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, rather than traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she repeats, adding amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who had doubts about her previously will certainly be regretting it today. As part of she describes as a “wild, full-circle” story, she has created her dream vehicle. In 2019 she uploaded a video titled on LA life on the internet, in which she parodied movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a comedy about city dwellers juggling advantages of internet fame (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your friend being labeled as being a drug-addled thief, and possibly becoming a unreliable persona non grata). It would be simple to make a series about internet celebrity that was extremely glamorous—or, more problematic, one that belittled at those depicted. The series avoids both, creating a depiction of privileged young adult existence that’s honest about the mess and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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
