The performer enters the digital interview and immediately launches into an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, sounding really regretful. Despite being only slightly delayed, she feels compelled to clarify. “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 exactly what you want to experience. Moreover, it’s quite expected. Viewers who know her unapologetically openly gay and outspoken film Bottoms—which she co-wrote with the director and starred in alongside close companion The Bear’s standout—will understand that Sennott possesses plenty to say, be it about identity, intimacy, or the merits of starting a teen combat group. Furthermore, after watching the latest eight-part show titled I Love LA, it is clear that she holds additional thoughts about the darker side of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, she represents an honorary member of the gang, a tale-end millennial skilled for bridging both generations).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and the actress readily acknowledges an admirer, referencing it together with the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as guides for I Love LA, which follows the journey of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and fledgling agent Sennott’s character. However, the biggest spot on creative vision went to the popular sitcom, that program focusing on a rising Hollywood star making his way in an often-seedy entertainment industry (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it amid the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and decided to create a new version 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 idea for this project originated—to some extent—from personal, originally difficult, move to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a popular occurrence for enthusiasts. That period marked a phase that saw her understand significant life lessons, in her career and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Growing up in Connecticut, Sennott started developing and showcasing stand-up while studying theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “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.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She decided to act independently, performing at amateur nights with her friend and sharing uproarious (and very) unconventional comedy videos digitally. One, Baby Cult, followed several females obsessively obsessed with having babies; a different one portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being caught in a horror film. By chance, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and ended up appearing in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her career, she notes, has been peers supporting her, rather than the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she confirms, continuing amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who were skeptical about Sennott earlier will surely be regretting it now. In what she calls a “wild, full-circle” story, she has manifested the perfect project. Previously she uploaded content named about Los Angeles on social media, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a comedy about LA residents managing the perks of digital stardom (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your friend being accused of being a drug-addled thief, and potentially becoming a risky pariah). Some could simple to make a program about online fame that was extremely idealized—or, more problematic, one that punched down at the characters. This show does neither, creating a portrait of advantaged millennial existence that’s honest about the grot and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
