The comedic talent discussing her uproarious series portraying that messy appeal of Gen Z lifestyle
The star appears on the digital interview and right away starts an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, seeming genuinely regretful. Despite being only slightly delayed, she wants to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Fortunately, in this context, that’s precisely what is ideal to experience. Additionally, it’s quite predictable. Viewers who know the unapologetically openly gay and outspoken project titled Bottoms—which she penned with Emma Seligman and starred in alongside collaborator the talented actress—will understand that she has much to share, ranging from about gender, intimacy, or the pros of starting a youth fight club. Plus, once you finish her latest eight-part program titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she holds further thoughts on the darker side of modern youth (At 30, Sennott represents an honorary member to younger audiences, on the cusp adept for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges enthusiastic, naming the show in addition to Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as guides for the project, which tracks the journey of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also fledgling representative Maia. Notably, the most significant influence on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, the show focusing on an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt entertainment industry (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it throughout lockdown, became “hooked”, and decided to create a new version 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 idea for I Love LA came—to some extent—from her own, originally rocky, transition to LA and from the cosmic event, a popular occurrence for astrology heads. This represented a time that involved her learn some big truths, work-wise and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Brought up in the East Coast, Sennott commenced writing and performing humor while pursuing theatre at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she states. “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.”
Sennott decided to act independently, performing at amateur nights with her friend and uploading hilarious (and decidedly) bizarre online content online. One, Baby Cult, followed a group of women obsessively fixated on pregnancy; a different one envisioned being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being trapped in a scary movie. By chance, she met Seligman through the university’s film scene and ultimately starring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her path, she notes, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, as opposed to traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, continuing with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who were skeptical regarding Sennott then will likely be kicking themselves now. In what she labels a “wild, full-circle” development, she has manifested her dream vehicle. In 2019 she posted a video called “it’s LA” on social media, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a comedy about Angelenos juggling the perks of internet fame (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being suspected of being a intoxicated thief, and potentially becoming a unreliable persona non grata). Some could easy to produce a program about digital influence that was extremely glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at its subjects. This show does neither, making for a portrait of affluent millennial existence that’s candid about the mess and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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