The performer joins the digital interview and at once starts an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, appearing really regretful. She is only slightly behind, she wants 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, in this context, this is exactly what you want to hear. Besides, it’s fairly predictable. Viewers who know her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and brash film titled Bottoms—that she penned with the director and featured in together with her friend Ayo Edebiri—can be aware that Sennott has a lot to say, ranging from about identity, sex, or the appeal of starting a youth combat group. And, after watching her recent seasonal HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she carries further thoughts regarding the darker side of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, Sennott represents an honorary member to younger audiences, straddling eras with a knack for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is enthusiastic, naming the show in addition to Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as guides for her series, which tracks the journey of an influencer Tallulah and her friend who is also new agent portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the biggest presence on concept was reserved for Entourage, the show about an emerging Hollywood star making his way in a corrupt entertainment industry (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She began viewing it throughout lockdown, became “obsessed”, and decided to add a fresh perspective 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 concept for this project came—to some extent—from her own, initially fractious, relocation to Tinseltown and from her saturn return, a much-talked-about event for followers. It was a time that involved her learn some big truths, in her career and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Growing up in Connecticut, the star commenced writing and performing comedy while studying theatre at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She took matters into her own hands, appearing at live shows with Ayo and uploading hysterical (and very) bizarre online content online. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted a group of women obsessively drawn to having babies; a different one portrayed working at a trendy retail outlet as like being trapped in a scary movie. By chance, she met Seligman through the university’s film scene and ultimately featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a religious event with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her journey, she explains, has been people her own age offering opportunities, as opposed to established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, continuing amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who questioned about her earlier will surely be feeling foolish now. As part of she describes as a “astonishingly complete” development, she seems to have achieved the perfect project. A few years back she uploaded content titled on LA life on social media, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a series about city dwellers managing benefits of internet fame (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being accused of being a substance-abusing stealer, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). Some could simple to make a series about online fame that was horribly glamorous—or, worse, one that mocked at the characters. I Love LA steers clear of each, creating a representation of advantaged millennial existence that’s frank about the mess and the appeal.
Empathetic Approach
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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
