The star appears on the digital interview and immediately starts an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, appearing truly remorseful. She is only a bit late, she feels compelled to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, in this context, this is precisely what one hopes to experience. Besides, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone who have seen her fearlessly openly gay and brash film titled Bottoms—that she collaborated on with her creative partner and featured in alongside close companion Ayo Edebiri—would already know that Sennott has a lot to discuss, whether about identity, sex, or the merits of starting a teen combat group. And, after watching the recent multi-episode HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star carries even more insights about the challenges of Gen Z life (At 30, she represents a bridge of the gang, on the cusp skilled for bridging different age groups).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and the actress readily acknowledges an admirer, naming the show in addition to the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as guides for the project, which details the journey of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also new representative Sennott’s character. Notably, the most significant spot on creative vision was reserved for the HBO series, that HBO sitcom about an up-and-coming Hollywood star making his way in a gritty entertainment industry (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott began viewing it during lockdown, became “captivated”, and resolved to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she notes. The concept for this project came—to some extent—from her own, initially rocky, move to LA and from the astrological phase, a popular event for followers. This represented a time that saw her understand major life lessons, work-wise and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Humble Origins
Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott commenced creating and acting stand-up while studying acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She decided to act independently, appearing at open mics with Edebiri and uploading hilarious (and very) bizarre comedy videos online. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on a group of women fetishistically fixated on having babies; a different one envisioned working at a trendy retail outlet as like being stuck in a scary movie. Interestingly, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and ultimately appearing in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a funeral gathering with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her path, she says, has been peers supporting her, rather than traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she confirms, continuing amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Those who had doubts about Sennott earlier will likely be regretting it today. In what she calls a “astonishingly complete” development, she seems to have manifested her dream vehicle. In 2019 she uploaded a clip titled on LA life online, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a comedy about city dwellers balancing benefits of digital stardom (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your client being suspected of being a substance-abusing thief, and possibly becoming a unreliable pariah). It would be easy to make a program about digital influence that was extremely idealized—or, worse, one that punched down at the characters. I Love LA does neither, resulting in a representation of advantaged twentysomething life that’s frank about the mess and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” she says. “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
