The star enters the video call and at once begins an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, seeming genuinely regretful. Although she's only slightly delayed, she wants to explain. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s just what is ideal to experience. Besides, it’s pretty unsurprising. Viewers who know her fearlessly LGBTQ+ and brash project Bottoms—that she collaborated on with the director and starred in together with her friend Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that she possesses plenty to share, whether on gender, relationships, or the merits of starting a youth brawl society. Plus, after watching the new multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star carries even more thoughts regarding the darker side of young adulthood (As a millennial, she represents an honorary member of the gang, a tale-end millennial adept for straddling different age groups).
Influences and Creative Vision
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott readily acknowledges enthusiastic, referencing the show alongside the classic series, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as influences for the project, which details the journey of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also fledgling talent manager portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the largest presence on creative vision was reserved for the popular sitcom, that program about a rising celebrity navigating in an often-seedy Hollywood (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott began viewing it throughout lockdown, became “obsessed”, and decided to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she says. The inspiration for the series originated—to some extent—from firsthand, originally fractious, relocation to Tinseltown and from the cosmic event, a much-talked-about occurrence for astrology heads. That period marked an era that saw her understand significant truths, professionally and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” 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 New England, Sennott commenced writing and performing comedy while enrolled in theatre at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at amateur nights with her friend and sharing hilarious (and distinctly) bizarre comedy videos digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on a group of women intensely fixated on having babies; a different one portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being stuck in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up featuring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a religious event with echoes of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her journey, she notes, has been people her own age offering opportunities, instead of the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, adding amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who questioned about Sennott previously will surely be feeling foolish now. In what she describes as a “incredibly circular” development, she seems to have manifested an ideal role. A few years back she posted content called about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a show about city dwellers balancing benefits of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being suspected of being a drug-addled stealer, and potentially becoming a unreliable outcast). Some could easy to produce a show about internet celebrity that was horribly idealized—or, more problematic, one that punched down at its subjects. I Love LA avoids both, making for a portrait of affluent twentysomething living that’s frank about the grot and the glamour.
Empathetic Approach
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
