The star joins the video call and immediately launches into an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, appearing truly remorseful. She is only a bit late, she needs to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, in this context, that’s just what one hopes to hear. Additionally, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone who know the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass project Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and starred in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—can understand that she possesses much to share, whether about roles, sex, or the pros of starting a youth brawl society. Furthermore, once you finish the recent eight-part program titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds additional thoughts regarding the struggles of modern youth (Now in her thirties, Sennott represents a relatable figure of the gang, on the cusp with a knack for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and the actress admits to being a fan, citing the show in addition to the classic series, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as guides for I Love LA, which details the struggles of online personality Tallulah and close companion who is also aspiring representative portrayed by Sennott. However, the most significant spot on the moodboard belonged to the popular sitcom, the show focusing on an emerging celebrity making his way in an often-seedy entertainment industry (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She discovered it amid lockdown, became “captivated”, and decided to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she notes. The concept for the series came—in part—from personal, initially rocky, transition to Los Angeles and from her cosmic event, a popular event for enthusiasts. That period marked a time that saw her understand some big insights, in her career and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Growing up in Connecticut, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing humor while enrolled in acting at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at amateur nights with Edebiri and posting hysterical (and decidedly) weird online content online. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on characters intensely drawn to pregnancy; a different one portrayed being employed at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being stuck in a horror film. By chance, she met Emma through campus film circles and ultimately starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a religious event with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her career, she explains, has been contemporaries supporting her, rather than the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, stating with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Those who had doubts about her then will certainly be kicking themselves now. As part of she describes as a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she seems to have manifested the perfect project. A few years back she shared content named about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a show about city dwellers juggling the perks of internet fame (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your friend being accused of being a drug-addled criminal, and perhaps becoming a unreliable pariah). Some could simple to create a show about digital influence that was extremely aspirational—or, worse, one that punched down at the characters. The series avoids both, creating a representation of privileged young adult living that’s honest about the mess and the glamour.
Empathetic Approach
“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
