The actress and writer discussing her side-splitting show depicting that grotty allure of younger generation lifestyle
The star joins the video call and immediately starts an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, seeming genuinely remorseful. Despite being only a couple of minutes late, she needs to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, for a writer, this is just what is ideal to hear. Moreover, it’s pretty unsurprising. Those who know the fearlessly queer and outspoken movie titled Bottoms—which she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and featured in alongside her friend the talented actress—can already know that Sennott possesses much to share, be it on identity, relationships, or the appeal of starting a teen fight club. Plus, by the end the recent multi-episode HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star holds additional perspectives about the challenges of young adulthood (At 30, Sennott serves as a relatable figure to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial with a knack for connecting both generations).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and the actress is a fan, referencing it alongside the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as guides for I Love LA, which follows the struggles of online personality Tallulah and close companion who is also new representative Maia. Notably, the largest presence on the moodboard went to the popular sitcom, the program depicting an up-and-coming A-list actor making his way in a corrupt Hollywood (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She discovered it throughout the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and resolved to create a new version 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 explains. The concept for the series originated—partly—from firsthand, initially fractious, move to Tinseltown and from the cosmic event, a frequently discussed phenomenon for enthusiasts. It was an era that saw her grasp significant truths, professionally and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Early Beginnings
Brought up in New England, Sennott started writing and performing humor while enrolled in acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “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. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at live shows with Edebiri and uploading hilarious (and decidedly) bizarre comedy videos online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on a group of women fetishistically drawn to having babies; a different one envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being trapped in a horror film. By chance, she encountered Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ended up featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a religious event with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her journey, she says, has been contemporaries supporting her, as opposed to traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, stating with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who were skeptical regarding her then will certainly be kicking themselves now. As part of she describes as a “incredibly circular” story, she seems to have created her dream vehicle. Previously she posted content named on LA life on social media, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a comedy about LA residents juggling the perks of online celebrity (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being accused of being a drug-addled stealer, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). Some could easy to make a program about internet celebrity that was horribly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at those depicted. This show steers clear of each, creating a depiction of advantaged millennial living that’s frank about the chaos and the glamour.
Balanced Perspective
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
