The star appears on the online meeting and at once launches into an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, sounding genuinely regretful. Despite being only slightly late, she needs to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, for a writer, this is just what you want to hear. Besides, it’s fairly predictable. Viewers familiar with her unapologetically openly gay and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and starred in with close companion Ayo Edebiri—would be aware that she holds a lot to say, whether on identity, intimacy, or the merits of forming a high-school combat group. Plus, by the end the latest seasonal program titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star carries further thoughts regarding the struggles of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, she serves as a bridge to younger audiences, straddling eras adept for connecting both generations).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and Sennott admits to being an admirer, citing the show alongside the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as guides for I Love LA, which tracks the travails of a social media star Tallulah and her friend who is also fledgling representative Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the most significant influence on the moodboard went to the popular sitcom, the program about a rising A-list actor making his way in an often-seedy LA scene (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it during lockdown, became “obsessed”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective 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 explains. The concept for the series emerged—partly—from personal, initially rocky, move to Tinseltown and from the saturn return, a popular phenomenon for followers. It was a phase that involved her understand major insights, professionally and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “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 Connecticut, the star began creating and acting comedy while studying performance at NYU’s Tisch. “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.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott seized control, performing at open mics with her friend and sharing hilarious (and very) weird skits digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed characters fetishistically drawn to pregnancy; another portrayed working at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being stuck in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a religious event with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her career, she notes, has been people her own age offering opportunities, rather than established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, adding amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who questioned about Sennott then will certainly be kicking themselves now. Through she calls a “wild, full-circle” story, she has created her dream vehicle. In 2019 she shared a clip named “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she lampooned film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a comedy about Angelenos managing benefits of digital stardom (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being accused of being a drug-addled criminal, and perhaps becoming a risky outcast). One might simple to make a series about digital influence that was overly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at those depicted. The series steers clear of each, resulting in a depiction of advantaged young adult existence that’s honest about the grot and the shine.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
