The actress and writer discussing the uproarious comedy depicting that messy allure of today's youth lifestyle
The performer enters the online meeting and immediately begins an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, seeming genuinely apologetic. Despite being only a bit late, she wants to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, in this context, that’s exactly what is ideal to encounter. Besides, it’s quite unsurprising. Those familiar with her boldly queer and unapologetically crass film titled Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with the director and featured in with her friend The Bear’s standout—will be aware that she holds plenty to say, whether on gender, sex, or the merits of starting a high-school brawl society. Furthermore, by the end her latest seasonal program I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she carries even more insights regarding the challenges of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she serves as a relatable figure of the gang, on the cusp with a knack for straddling different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and the actress is an admirer, citing the show alongside the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as influences for I Love LA, which tracks the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and new talent manager Maia. Perhaps, the biggest presence on concept went to Entourage, that program depicting an emerging Hollywood star navigating in a gritty entertainment industry (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She started watching it during lockdown, became “hooked”, and decided to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she explains. The idea for this project came—to some extent—from her own, initially rocky, transition to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about phenomenon for astrology heads. It was a phase that included her understand major life lessons, professionally and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Starting Out
Brought up in Connecticut, the star began creating and acting stand-up while studying acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She decided to act independently, taking the stage at live shows with her friend and posting hilarious (and decidedly) weird online content digitally. One, Baby Cult, depicted characters intensely drawn to motherhood; a different one portrayed working at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being trapped in a horror film. Interestingly, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and ended up starring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a religious event with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her path, she explains, has been peers giving her a shot, instead of the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, continuing amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who questioned regarding Sennott previously will surely be feeling foolish now. In what she describes as a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she has manifested her dream vehicle. A few years back she shared content called on LA life on the internet, in which she mocked film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about LA residents juggling benefits of digital stardom (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your associate being labeled as being a drug-addled criminal, and possibly becoming a risky persona non grata). It would be simple to produce a program about internet celebrity that was overly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at its subjects. The series does neither, creating a depiction of affluent millennial existence that’s candid about the grot 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 says. “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
