The performer appears on the video call and immediately launches into an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, seeming truly apologetic. She is only a bit delayed, she needs to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, in this context, that’s precisely what one hopes to encounter. Besides, it’s fairly unsurprising. Viewers familiar with the fearlessly queer and outspoken film Bottoms—which she co-wrote with the director and starred in with her friend The Bear’s standout—will understand that she holds plenty to discuss, whether on roles, relationships, or the merits of starting a high-school fight club. Plus, by the end her recent eight-part show I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she holds additional insights regarding the darker side of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, she is a relatable figure to younger audiences, straddling eras adept for straddling different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and Sennott is enthusiastic, citing it in addition to Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as guides for I Love LA, which tracks the struggles of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and aspiring agent portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the largest presence on the moodboard was reserved for the HBO series, the show focusing on an up-and-coming celebrity making his way in an often-seedy LA scene (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it amid COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and decided to add a fresh perspective on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she notes. The inspiration for the series emerged—in part—from her own, at first fractious, relocation to Tinseltown and from her cosmic event, a much-talked-about occurrence for followers. That period marked a time that included her understand major life lessons, professionally and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in Connecticut, the star began creating and acting stand-up while enrolled in acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She seized control, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and sharing hilarious (and decidedly) bizarre comedy videos digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted characters fetishistically fixated on motherhood; a different one imagined being employed at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being trapped in a horror film. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ended up featuring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her journey, she explains, has been peers giving her a shot, as opposed to the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, adding with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who questioned regarding Sennott earlier will certainly be kicking themselves today. As part of she labels a “astonishingly complete” story, she has manifested the perfect project. A few years back she shared a video titled about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a series about LA residents juggling the perks of internet fame (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being labeled as being a drug-addled stealer, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). It would be tempting to create a show about internet celebrity that was extremely aspirational—or, more problematic, one that mocked at its subjects. This show does neither, resulting in a portrait of privileged twentysomething living that’s frank about the grot and the appeal.
Empathetic Approach
“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
