The star enters the video call and immediately launches into an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, seeming genuinely apologetic. Although she's only slightly behind, she feels compelled to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, in this context, this is just what you want to hear. Moreover, it’s quite expected. Those familiar with the boldly queer and brash project Bottoms—that Sennott penned with the director and appeared in together with close companion the talented actress—will be aware that she holds plenty to share, whether about identity, sex, or the appeal of starting a high-school brawl society. And, after watching her latest eight-part HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that she carries additional perspectives on the darker side of young adulthood (As a millennial, she is a relatable figure for this generation, straddling eras skilled for bridging different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges enthusiastic, citing the show in addition to the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as guides for her series, which follows the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and new talent manager Maia. Perhaps, the largest influence on concept was reserved for Entourage, that HBO sitcom about a rising A-list actor navigating in a gritty Hollywood (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott began viewing it amid the pandemic, became “obsessed”, 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 notes. The inspiration for the series came—partly—from firsthand, initially difficult, transition to Tinseltown and from the saturn return, a much-talked-about occurrence for astrology heads. This represented a phase that saw her understand significant life lessons, in her career and personally. “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…”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in Connecticut, Sennott began creating and acting comedy while studying theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “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. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott decided to act independently, taking the stage at open mics with Edebiri and sharing hysterical (and very) bizarre online content online. One, Baby Cult, followed a group of women obsessively drawn to pregnancy; another portrayed being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being stuck in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a Jewish wake with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her career, she says, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, instead of traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, stating with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who questioned about Sennott then will likely be regretting it today. In what she labels a “incredibly circular” story, she has achieved her dream vehicle. Previously she uploaded a video titled on LA life on the internet, in which she lampooned film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a series about Angelenos managing benefits of digital stardom (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your client being suspected of being a drug-addled stealer, and potentially becoming a unreliable persona non grata). Some could tempting to produce a program about digital influence that was horribly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at the characters. The series steers clear of each, creating a representation of affluent millennial existence that’s candid about the mess and the glamour.
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 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
