The star appears on the digital interview and right away launches into an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, appearing truly remorseful. Despite being only a couple of minutes delayed, she wants to explain. “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, this is precisely what one hopes to hear. Additionally, it’s pretty predictable. Those who know the boldly queer and outspoken movie titled Bottoms—which Sennott penned with her creative partner and appeared in together with her friend The Bear’s standout—would already know that Sennott holds a lot to say, be it about gender, relationships, or the appeal of creating a teen fight club. Furthermore, after watching her latest eight-part show I Love LA, it is clear that she holds further thoughts on the darker side of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as a relatable figure to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial with a knack for connecting both generations).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and Sennott readily acknowledges an admirer, referencing it alongside the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as guides for the project, which tracks the struggles of a social media star Tallulah and ally and fledgling representative Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the biggest influence on the moodboard went to Entourage, the show focusing on a rising celebrity making his way in a corrupt entertainment industry (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She started watching it during the pandemic, became “hooked”, and chose 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 says. The inspiration for this project emerged—partly—from personal, initially fractious, move to Tinseltown and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed occurrence for enthusiasts. That period marked an era that saw her understand major truths, in her career and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” 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 Connecticut, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing humor while studying theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott decided to act independently, taking the stage at live shows with Ayo and posting hilarious (and decidedly) unconventional skits online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters intensely drawn to having babies; another portrayed working at the brand Hollister as similar to being caught in a scary movie. Interestingly, she met Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a Jewish wake with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her career, she notes, has been people her own age offering opportunities, as opposed to the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, stating humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Those who had doubts about her then will surely be regretting it today. As part of she calls a “astonishingly complete” story, she appears to created the perfect project. In 2019 she posted content called “it’s LA” online, in which she parodied film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a series about LA residents balancing the perks of internet fame (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being suspected of being a drug-addled criminal, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). Some could easy to create a series about online fame that was horribly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at its subjects. This show steers clear of each, making for a representation of advantaged twentysomething life that’s candid about the chaos and the shine.
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 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
