The star joins the video call and immediately launches into an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, appearing really regretful. She is only slightly late, she feels compelled to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, during an interview, that’s precisely what one hopes to hear. Besides, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone who know the unapologetically openly gay and brash movie titled Bottoms—which she co-wrote with her creative partner and starred in together with close companion the talented actress—can be aware that Sennott has plenty to share, be it about gender, sex, or the pros of forming a youth combat group. Furthermore, by the end the new seasonal HBO series titled I Love LA, viewers realize that the star holds even more perspectives regarding the struggles of Gen Z life (At 30, Sennott represents a bridge to younger audiences, straddling eras adept for connecting different age groups).
Influences and Creative Vision
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress readily acknowledges enthusiastic, referencing the show in addition to Sex and the City, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for her series, which follows the travails of an influencer Tallulah and close companion and aspiring representative portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the biggest spot on concept belonged to the HBO series, the show focusing on an up-and-coming Hollywood star making his way in an often-seedy LA scene (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott began viewing it throughout the pandemic, became “captivated”, and decided to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“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 difficult, relocation to Tinseltown and from the astrological phase, a popular phenomenon for astrology heads. It was a time that saw her learn some big insights, professionally and personally. “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 …”
Humble Origins
Raised in the East Coast, the star commenced writing and performing comedy while studying performance at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott decided to act independently, performing at live shows with her friend and sharing uproarious (and decidedly) unconventional comedy videos digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters obsessively fixated on pregnancy; another envisioned working at the brand Hollister as similar to being stuck in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately appearing in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her journey, she notes, has been contemporaries supporting her, instead of established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, continuing humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who had doubts regarding her then will likely be regretting it today. In what she describes as a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she appears to manifested her dream vehicle. In 2019 she uploaded a clip named “it’s LA” on social media, in which she mocked film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a series about city dwellers balancing benefits of digital stardom (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being accused of being a drug-addled thief, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). It would be simple to produce a program about digital influence that was horribly idealized—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at the characters. I Love LA avoids both, resulting in a representation of privileged young adult existence that’s frank about the mess 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
