The star enters the digital interview and immediately begins an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, sounding truly remorseful. Despite being only a couple of minutes late, she feels compelled to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, in this context, that’s just what is ideal to hear. Moreover, it’s quite expected. Anyone familiar with her unapologetically queer and brash film titled Bottoms—which Sennott penned with her creative partner and featured in with close companion the talented actress—will be aware that Sennott possesses a lot to discuss, whether on roles, intimacy, or the pros of forming a youth brawl society. Plus, once you finish the latest seasonal HBO series I Love LA, it is clear that she carries further perspectives about the struggles of modern youth (At 30, she serves as an honorary member to younger audiences, on the cusp with a knack for connecting both generations).
Influences and Creative Vision
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and Sennott is a fan, naming the show alongside the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as inspirations for her series, which tracks the travails of online personality Tallulah and her friend and fledgling agent Maia. However, the largest influence on the moodboard was reserved for the popular sitcom, that show focusing on an up-and-coming Hollywood star succeeding in a gritty Hollywood (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott started watching it during lockdown, became “captivated”, 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 explains. The concept for I Love LA originated—to some extent—from personal, at first difficult, relocation to Tinseltown and from her cosmic event, a frequently discussed event for enthusiasts. This represented a time that involved her grasp significant insights, in her career and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “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, the star commenced developing and showcasing comedy while pursuing acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she states. “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. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott decided to act independently, performing at amateur nights with her friend and posting hysterical (and distinctly) unconventional skits on the internet. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted characters obsessively drawn to motherhood; another imagined working at the brand Hollister as akin to being caught in a thriller. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through the university’s film scene and ended up starring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, instead of traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, stating amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who had doubts about her earlier will certainly be feeling foolish today. Through she labels a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she has created the perfect project. A few years back she posted a clip titled on LA life on the internet, in which she parodied movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a show about city dwellers juggling advantages of internet fame (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being accused of being a drug-addled stealer, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). It would be easy to create a show about digital influence that was horribly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at its subjects. The series does neither, resulting in a representation of advantaged twentysomething life that’s frank about the chaos and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” she says. “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
