🔗 Share this article

The performer joins the online meeting and right away launches into an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, seeming truly remorseful. Although she's only a bit late, she needs to explain. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s exactly what you want to hear. Additionally, it’s pretty expected. Viewers who know the unapologetically queer and outspoken movie titled Bottoms—which she penned with the director and starred in with her friend Ayo Edebiri—would understand that she holds a lot to say, whether on gender, intimacy, or the pros of forming a high-school combat group. Plus, by the end her recent eight-part show I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries even more perspectives about the darker side of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as an honorary member of the gang, on the cusp adept for straddling different age groups).

Inspirations and Storytelling Approach

Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being an admirer, naming the show together with Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as inspirations for I Love LA, which tracks the journey of an influencer Tallulah and close companion who is also fledgling representative Maia. However, the largest influence on the moodboard was reserved for Entourage, the show about a rising A-list actor making his way in an often-seedy entertainment industry (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott discovered it throughout the pandemic, became “captivated”, and decided to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.

“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The concept for I Love LA emerged—in part—from firsthand, at first rocky, relocation to Tinseltown and from the cosmic event, a popular occurrence for enthusiasts. That period marked a time that involved her learn some big life lessons, work-wise and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Humble Origins

Growing up in the East Coast, the star started writing and performing comedy while pursuing theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”

Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at amateur nights with her friend and uploading hysterical (and distinctly) weird comedy videos digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted characters obsessively fixated on having babies; a different one imagined being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being trapped in a thriller. By chance, she connected with Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ultimately starring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a religious event with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her path, she notes, has been people her own age supporting her, instead of traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, stating with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”

Career Breakthrough

Individuals who were skeptical about Sennott then will likely be feeling foolish now. As part of she labels a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she seems to have created the perfect project. In 2019 she uploaded a video named on LA life online, in which she mocked movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a series about Angelenos managing the perks of digital stardom (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your friend being labeled as being a substance-abusing thief, and potentially becoming a unreliable pariah). It would be simple to make a series about internet celebrity that was horribly aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at its subjects. The series does neither, making for a portrait of affluent young adult life that’s honest about the chaos and the shine.

Balanced Perspective

“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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