The performer enters the digital interview and right away launches into an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, sounding truly apologetic. Despite being only slightly behind, she feels compelled to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, in this context, that’s exactly what one hopes to hear. Additionally, it’s quite expected. Those who have seen her fearlessly queer and outspoken film Bottoms—which Sennott penned with her creative partner and appeared in together with close companion The Bear’s standout—can already know that Sennott holds plenty to share, be it on roles, intimacy, or the merits of creating a youth combat group. Furthermore, after watching her latest multi-episode program I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star holds even more insights on the darker side of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she represents a bridge for this generation, a tale-end millennial with a knack for connecting different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and the actress admits to being a fan, referencing it alongside the HBO hit, Insecure and Atlanta as guides for her series, which details the struggles of an influencer Tallulah and ally who is also aspiring talent manager Sennott’s character. However, the largest spot on creative vision was reserved for the popular sitcom, that program about an up-and-coming Hollywood star succeeding in a corrupt LA scene (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She discovered it amid COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and decided to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she notes. The idea for this project originated—in part—from personal, at first rocky, relocation to Tinseltown and from her saturn return, a much-talked-about phenomenon for enthusiasts. That period marked a phase that included her grasp major truths, professionally and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” 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
Raised in the East Coast, the star started writing and performing comedy while pursuing theatre at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She seized control, appearing at amateur nights with her friend and sharing hysterical (and distinctly) weird online content digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed several females fetishistically obsessed with motherhood; a different one envisioned working at the brand Hollister as like being stuck in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Emma through NYU’s movie community and eventually appearing in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a religious event with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her journey, she says, has been peers offering opportunities, instead of the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she repeats, stating amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who were skeptical about her earlier will likely be kicking themselves today. Through she labels a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she has manifested her dream vehicle. In 2019 she shared a video named “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she lampooned film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a show about Angelenos balancing benefits of online celebrity (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being suspected of being a substance-abusing thief, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). Some could easy to create a program about online fame that was horribly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at those depicted. The series does neither, resulting in a depiction of privileged twentysomething existence that’s honest about the chaos and the glamour.
Empathetic Approach
“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
