The performer appears on the digital interview and right away starts an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, sounding truly remorseful. Although she's only a couple of minutes behind, she feels compelled to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, in this context, this is precisely what is ideal to hear. Moreover, it’s quite expected. Those who know her unapologetically queer and unapologetically crass movie Bottoms—that she penned with her creative partner and starred in with close companion The Bear’s standout—will already know that she has a lot to say, ranging from on identity, relationships, or the pros of creating a youth fight club. And, by the end the latest multi-episode HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she carries further perspectives regarding the struggles of young adulthood (At 30, Sennott represents an honorary member of the gang, on the cusp with a knack for bridging both generations).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being a fan, naming the show together with Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as guides for I Love LA, which tracks the struggles of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and fledgling agent Maia. Perhaps, the most significant spot on concept went to Entourage, the show focusing on a rising celebrity navigating in a corrupt Hollywood (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it amid COVID-19, became “hooked”, and resolved to put her own twist 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 says. The concept for this project emerged—partly—from firsthand, at first difficult, relocation to Los Angeles and from her cosmic event, a much-talked-about phenomenon for astrology heads. That period marked a time that saw her grasp major insights, in her career and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in New England, the star started creating and acting humor while pursuing acting at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott decided to act independently, taking the stage at amateur nights with Edebiri and sharing hilarious (and distinctly) unconventional comedy videos online. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on several females obsessively obsessed with having babies; another envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being stuck in a thriller. Interestingly, she met Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately starring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a funeral gathering with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her journey, she says, has been contemporaries supporting her, instead of the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, continuing amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Those who were skeptical regarding her then will surely be kicking themselves today. As part of she labels a “astonishingly complete” development, she has manifested the perfect project. In 2019 she shared a video titled about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she parodied movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a series about LA residents balancing benefits of digital stardom (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being suspected of being a substance-abusing thief, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). One might simple to create a series about online fame that was overly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at its subjects. The series steers clear of each, creating a representation of privileged twentysomething 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 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
