The actress and writer on her hilarious comedy depicting the grotty appeal of today's youth life
The star joins the online meeting and immediately launches into an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, sounding really regretful. Despite being only a couple of minutes behind, she needs to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, for a writer, this is just what you want to experience. Additionally, it’s fairly predictable. Those who know the boldly queer and unapologetically crass movie titled Bottoms—which she collaborated on with the director and appeared in with her friend the talented actress—can already know that she has a lot to share, whether on roles, sex, or the pros of creating a youth fight club. Plus, by the end her new seasonal program I Love LA, viewers realize that the star has additional perspectives about the darker side of Gen Z life (At 30, Sennott represents a relatable figure to younger audiences, straddling eras adept for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and the actress is an admirer, referencing it in addition to the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as guides for I Love LA, which details the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and aspiring talent manager Maia. Notably, the most significant spot on the moodboard belonged to the HBO series, the show depicting a rising Hollywood star succeeding in an often-seedy LA scene (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She began viewing it amid COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and chose to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she notes. The inspiration for this project emerged—partly—from personal, originally rocky, transition to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a popular occurrence for followers. This represented a phase that saw her learn some big insights, work-wise and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Starting Out
Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott started developing and showcasing humor while studying theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” 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 decided to act independently, taking the stage at open mics with Ayo and uploading hilarious (and distinctly) weird online content online. One, Baby Cult, followed a group of women intensely obsessed with motherhood; another portrayed working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being caught in a thriller. By chance, she met Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately starring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her career, she explains, has been people her own age offering opportunities, rather than established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, adding humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who questioned about Sennott earlier will likely be regretting it today. Through she describes as a “wild, full-circle” story, she has achieved an ideal role. Previously she shared a video titled “it’s LA” online, in which she parodied film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a series about LA residents balancing the perks of internet fame (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being labeled as being a intoxicated stealer, and possibly becoming a risky pariah). One might easy to make a program about online fame that was horribly aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at its subjects. This show avoids both, creating a depiction of privileged twentysomething life that’s frank 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 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
