The performer enters the digital interview and right away starts an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, seeming genuinely regretful. Despite being only a bit late, she needs to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, during an interview, that’s just what you want to encounter. Moreover, it’s quite unsurprising. Viewers who have seen her unapologetically queer and brash film Bottoms—that she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and appeared in together with her friend The Bear’s standout—would understand that she holds much to share, whether on roles, relationships, or the merits of creating a teen fight club. Furthermore, by the end her new seasonal HBO series I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries even more perspectives on the struggles of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she is an honorary member for this generation, on the cusp skilled for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and the actress readily acknowledges enthusiastic, citing the show in addition to the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for her series, which details the travails of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also new agent portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the most significant influence on concept went to Entourage, the show about an emerging Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt Hollywood (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott discovered it amid the pandemic, became “captivated”, and decided to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The idea for I Love LA came—partly—from personal, originally rocky, move to Tinseltown and from her astrological phase, a frequently discussed event for followers. That period marked a phase that saw her learn some big truths, professionally and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in New England, the star commenced writing and performing humor while enrolled in theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She seized control, performing at live shows with Ayo and sharing hysterical (and very) unconventional skits on the internet. One, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women fetishistically fixated on having babies; another portrayed working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being caught in a horror film. Interestingly, she connected with Seligman through the university’s film scene and ultimately featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a religious event with hints of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her path, she notes, has been people her own age offering opportunities, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, stating humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Individuals who had doubts about Sennott then will certainly be kicking themselves today. Through she calls a “astonishingly complete” development, she appears to achieved her dream vehicle. In 2019 she shared a video called on LA life on the internet, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a show about Angelenos managing advantages of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a substance-abusing stealer, and perhaps becoming a risky persona non grata). Some could easy to create a series about online fame that was overly idealized—or, worse, one that mocked at its subjects. I Love LA steers clear of each, resulting in a depiction of privileged young adult existence that’s honest about the grot and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“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
