The star appears on the digital interview and at once launches into an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, appearing genuinely apologetic. Although she's only a couple of minutes behind, she feels compelled to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, for a writer, that’s just what one hopes to hear. Moreover, it’s fairly predictable. Those who have seen the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and outspoken movie Bottoms—that she penned with her creative partner and appeared in alongside close companion Ayo Edebiri—can be aware that she holds much to share, be it about roles, sex, or the merits of forming a youth fight club. Furthermore, once you finish the latest eight-part HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that she carries even more perspectives about the darker side of modern youth (Now in her thirties, Sennott is a bridge to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial adept for straddling both generations).
Influences and Artistic Direction
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being an admirer, citing the show alongside Sex and the City, Insecure and the innovative program as guides for I Love LA, which details the travails of a social media star Tallulah and ally and fledgling agent portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the biggest presence on creative vision belonged to Entourage, the show depicting an emerging A-list actor making his way in a corrupt LA scene (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott discovered it during COVID-19, became “hooked”, and chose to put her own twist 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 explains. The concept for this project came—in part—from her own, at first difficult, move to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a frequently discussed event for followers. That period marked a time that included her understand some big truths, in her career and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott started developing and showcasing humor while studying theatre at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “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 took matters into her own hands, performing at live shows with her friend and uploading uproarious (and very) bizarre online content online. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted characters fetishistically obsessed with pregnancy; a different one imagined working at the brand Hollister as like being stuck in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Emma through NYU’s movie community and ended up appearing in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the intense thriller. The big theme of her journey, she explains, has been people her own age supporting her, rather than traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, continuing with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Anyone who questioned regarding Sennott then will surely be kicking themselves now. Through she calls a “incredibly circular” development, she appears to created an ideal role. In 2019 she uploaded a video called about Los Angeles on social media, in which she mocked film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a show about LA residents balancing advantages 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 persona non grata). Some could easy to create a show about online fame that was horribly glamorous—or, worse, one that belittled at the characters. This show steers clear of each, creating a representation of advantaged twentysomething living that’s candid about the mess and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“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
