The actress and writer discussing the hilarious comedy about that grotty glamour of Gen Z lifestyle
The performer joins the digital interview and at once starts an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, sounding truly apologetic. She is only a couple of minutes behind, she feels compelled to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, for a writer, that’s just what you want to experience. Besides, it’s fairly unsurprising. Those who know her boldly openly gay and brash film titled Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with the director and featured in alongside collaborator Ayo Edebiri—would understand that Sennott possesses much to discuss, be it about roles, intimacy, or the appeal of forming a high-school fight club. Furthermore, by the end the recent eight-part show titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries further insights about the darker side of young adulthood (At 30, she serves as a relatable figure for this generation, on the cusp adept for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and Sennott readily acknowledges an admirer, citing the show together with the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as guides for her series, which tracks the struggles of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and aspiring agent Maia. Notably, the biggest influence on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, that program about an emerging A-list actor making his way in a gritty LA scene (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She began viewing it amid COVID-19, became “hooked”, and decided 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 inspiration for this project came—to some extent—from personal, originally fractious, transition to LA and from the saturn return, a much-talked-about phenomenon for followers. This represented a phase that involved her learn significant insights, work-wise and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in Connecticut, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing humor while pursuing theatre at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and posting hysterical (and distinctly) unconventional online content online. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted several females intensely fixated on having babies; a different one imagined being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being stuck in a thriller. Interestingly, she connected with Seligman through the university’s film scene and eventually appearing in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her path, she explains, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, as opposed to traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, continuing with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Anyone who had doubts about her earlier will certainly be feeling foolish now. In what she labels a “astonishingly complete” story, she seems to have manifested an ideal role. In 2019 she shared content named “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a show about LA residents managing advantages of internet fame (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your friend being suspected of being a substance-abusing criminal, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). One might easy to create a series about online fame that was horribly idealized—or, more problematic, one that belittled at those depicted. The series does neither, making for a portrait of advantaged millennial living that’s honest about the mess and the shine.
Empathetic Approach
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” she observes. “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
