The star joins the online meeting and right away starts an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, sounding genuinely remorseful. Despite being only a bit behind, she feels compelled to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, in this context, this is precisely what you want to experience. Additionally, it’s fairly expected. Those familiar with her boldly queer and unapologetically crass project Bottoms—which she co-wrote with Emma Seligman and featured in with her friend Ayo Edebiri—would be aware that she possesses much to share, ranging from about roles, relationships, or the pros of forming a teen combat group. And, after watching the new seasonal HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has even more insights about the darker side of modern youth (At 30, Sennott represents an honorary member for this generation, straddling eras skilled for straddling different age groups).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and Sennott is a fan, citing it together with the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as guides for the project, which follows the struggles of online personality Tallulah and close companion who is also aspiring talent manager Sennott’s character. However, the most significant influence on the moodboard was reserved for Entourage, that program focusing on a rising A-list actor navigating in a corrupt entertainment industry (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott began viewing it during lockdown, 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 notes. The concept for this project emerged—to some extent—from firsthand, initially rocky, transition to Tinseltown and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about phenomenon for followers. This represented an era that involved her learn major life lessons, professionally and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” 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 resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Starting Out
Brought up in New England, the star commenced writing and performing comedy while enrolled in theatre at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and sharing hysterical (and decidedly) weird comedy videos on the internet. One, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters fetishistically fixated on pregnancy; another envisioned working at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being trapped in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ultimately starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a Jewish wake with hints of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her path, she says, has been contemporaries supporting her, as opposed to traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she repeats, adding with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who were skeptical about Sennott earlier will certainly be kicking themselves today. In what she labels a “wild, full-circle” development, she seems to have achieved the perfect project. Previously she shared a video titled about Los Angeles online, in which she mocked film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a show about city dwellers managing the perks of online celebrity (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your client being suspected of being a drug-addled criminal, and potentially becoming a risky outcast). Some could simple to create a program about online fame that was horribly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA avoids both, resulting in a representation of advantaged twentysomething existence that’s candid about the mess and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“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
