The actress and writer discussing her uproarious series portraying that chaotic appeal of younger generation life
The performer appears on the video call and right away launches into an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, appearing truly apologetic. She is only a couple of minutes delayed, she needs to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s just what is ideal to hear. Moreover, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone who have seen her boldly queer and brash film Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and starred in together with her friend The Bear’s standout—will be aware that she possesses much to say, ranging from on identity, sex, or the pros of forming a youth brawl society. Furthermore, by the end the latest multi-episode program titled I Love LA, it is clear that she carries even more thoughts about the darker side of young adulthood (At 30, Sennott serves as a relatable figure of the gang, a tale-end millennial skilled for straddling different age groups).
Influences and Creative Vision
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is an admirer, naming the show alongside the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as influences for her series, which follows the journey of a social media star Tallulah and her friend and new representative Sennott’s character. However, the largest influence on concept went to Entourage, the program focusing on an up-and-coming celebrity making his way in an often-seedy LA scene (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She began viewing it amid the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and chose to put her own twist on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The concept for this project emerged—in part—from her own, initially fractious, transition to Tinseltown and from her saturn return, a popular event for followers. It was a phase that involved her learn major truths, professionally and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Starting Out
Brought up in Connecticut, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing stand-up while enrolled in acting 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.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at amateur nights with her friend and posting uproarious (and decidedly) weird online content online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted characters intensely obsessed with having babies; a different one envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as like being stuck in a thriller. Interestingly, she met Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ultimately featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a religious event with echoes of the intense thriller. The big theme of her journey, she notes, has been people her own age giving her a shot, instead of the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, stating with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who questioned regarding Sennott previously will certainly be regretting it today. Through she labels a “incredibly circular” story, she has created her dream vehicle. Previously she posted a video called “it’s LA” on social media, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a series about Angelenos managing benefits of online celebrity (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being labeled as being a drug-addled criminal, and perhaps becoming a risky persona non grata). Some could tempting to create a show about internet celebrity that was extremely idealized—or, more problematic, one that belittled at its subjects. I Love LA does neither, resulting in a representation of affluent millennial living that’s honest about the grot and the shine.
Nuanced Portrayal
“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
