The performer joins the video call and at once starts an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, seeming truly regretful. She is only slightly late, she feels compelled to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, in this context, this is precisely what one hopes to encounter. Additionally, it’s fairly unsurprising. Viewers who have seen the unapologetically openly gay and unapologetically crass movie Bottoms—which she collaborated on with her creative partner and appeared in with collaborator the talented actress—would be aware that Sennott has much to share, ranging from about gender, intimacy, or the pros of forming a youth fight club. Plus, once you finish the recent multi-episode show I Love LA, it is clear that she holds further perspectives regarding the darker side of young adulthood (As a millennial, she serves as a bridge for this generation, on the cusp with a knack for connecting different age groups).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, naming the show together with Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as influences for the project, which follows the travails of a social media star Tallulah and ally who is also fledgling representative Maia. However, the most significant spot on the moodboard went to the HBO series, that HBO sitcom about an up-and-coming A-list actor making his way in a gritty entertainment industry (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She started watching it throughout lockdown, became “captivated”, and decided 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 this project emerged—partly—from her own, initially rocky, relocation to LA and from the astrological phase, a popular event for astrology heads. This represented a phase that involved her learn major insights, in her career and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott started creating and acting comedy while enrolled in theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott seized control, taking the stage at amateur nights with Ayo and posting uproarious (and distinctly) unconventional skits online. One, titled Baby Cult, centered on a group of women intensely obsessed with pregnancy; another envisioned working at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being stuck in a thriller. By chance, she met Emma through NYU’s movie community and eventually appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a funeral gathering with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her path, she explains, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, as opposed to established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, stating amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who questioned about Sennott earlier will certainly be feeling foolish now. In what she calls a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she appears to manifested an ideal role. A few years back she uploaded content titled “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she lampooned film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about LA residents juggling the perks of internet fame (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being accused of being a drug-addled criminal, and perhaps becoming a unreliable persona non grata). It would be simple to make a show about online fame that was extremely idealized—or, worse, one that belittled at its subjects. This show avoids both, making for a depiction of privileged young adult existence that’s honest about the chaos and the glamour.
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
