The performer enters the online meeting and at once starts an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, seeming truly apologetic. Although she's only slightly delayed, she feels compelled to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s exactly what is ideal to hear. Besides, it’s pretty predictable. Viewers who know her fearlessly queer and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with her creative partner and appeared in together with her friend the talented actress—will understand that she possesses a lot to say, whether about roles, sex, or the appeal of creating a high-school fight club. Plus, after watching the latest eight-part HBO series I Love LA, viewers realize that the star carries additional perspectives regarding the darker side of modern youth (Now in her thirties, Sennott is an honorary member of the gang, on the cusp adept for straddling both generations).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and Sennott is an admirer, referencing the show in addition to the HBO hit, Insecure and Atlanta as influences for I Love LA, which details the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also new agent portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the biggest presence on the moodboard was reserved for the HBO series, that show depicting a rising A-list actor succeeding in an often-seedy Hollywood (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott began viewing it during lockdown, became “obsessed”, and resolved to create a new version 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 idea for the series came—partly—from her own, initially rocky, move to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a much-talked-about phenomenon for followers. That period marked a time that saw her learn significant insights, in her career and individually. “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…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in the East Coast, Sennott started writing and performing humor while enrolled in performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and posting hilarious (and decidedly) bizarre skits on the internet. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted several females obsessively fixated on having babies; another envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being trapped in a thriller. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her path, she says, has been people her own age giving her a shot, rather than established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, stating with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who questioned about her previously will surely be feeling foolish now. As part of she describes as a “incredibly circular” development, she seems to have manifested the perfect project. In 2019 she posted a clip called about Los Angeles on social media, in which she mocked film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a comedy about city dwellers juggling advantages of online celebrity (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being suspected of being a substance-abusing thief, and possibly becoming a risky outcast). Some could simple to create a program about digital influence that was overly aspirational—or, worse, one that belittled at its subjects. I Love LA steers clear of each, resulting in a depiction of privileged millennial existence that’s honest about the mess and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” she comments. “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
