The performer appears on the digital interview and right away launches into an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, sounding really remorseful. She is only a couple of minutes delayed, she feels compelled to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, in this context, that’s precisely what you want to experience. Additionally, it’s quite predictable. Viewers who know the fearlessly openly gay and brash movie titled Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with her creative partner and appeared in alongside collaborator the talented actress—will understand that Sennott holds plenty to discuss, be it on identity, intimacy, or the merits of starting a youth combat group. Plus, once you finish the recent multi-episode show I Love LA, it is clear that she carries additional perspectives regarding the challenges of Gen Z life (At 30, she represents an honorary member for this generation, straddling eras skilled for connecting both generations).
Influences and Creative Vision
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and Sennott is enthusiastic, referencing it alongside Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as guides for the project, which details the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion who is also aspiring agent Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the largest spot on creative vision was reserved for the HBO series, the show about a rising A-list actor making his way in a gritty entertainment industry (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it during lockdown, became “obsessed”, and chose to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she explains. The inspiration for this project emerged—to some extent—from firsthand, at first rocky, transition to Tinseltown and from her cosmic event, a popular occurrence for astrology heads. It was a time that included her learn major life lessons, in her career 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 was almost like these biblical tests …”
Starting Out
Raised in the East Coast, Sennott began developing and showcasing stand-up while enrolled in performance at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at open mics with her friend and posting hilarious (and very) weird skits online. One, titled Baby Cult, centered on several females obsessively fixated on motherhood; another envisioned working at the brand Hollister as akin to being stuck in a scary movie. By chance, she met Emma through campus film circles and eventually appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a Jewish wake with hints of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her path, she says, has been contemporaries supporting her, as opposed to the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she confirms, adding amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who were skeptical regarding Sennott then will likely be feeling foolish currently. In what she labels a “wild, full-circle” story, she seems to have created her dream vehicle. In 2019 she posted content called on LA life online, in which she parodied movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a show about LA residents juggling benefits of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a drug-addled stealer, and possibly becoming a risky outcast). It would be simple to produce a program about online fame that was extremely idealized—or, worse, one that punched down at its subjects. I Love LA avoids both, resulting in a portrait of affluent millennial existence that’s frank about the chaos and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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