The performer appears on the video call and immediately launches into an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, appearing truly remorseful. Although she's only a couple of minutes late, she wants to explain. “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!” Fortunately, during an interview, that’s exactly what one hopes to hear. Moreover, it’s quite expected. Anyone who know her fearlessly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass movie titled Bottoms—which Sennott penned with her creative partner and starred in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—will understand that Sennott holds plenty to share, whether on identity, relationships, or the pros of starting a teen fight club. And, after watching her recent multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she holds additional thoughts about the challenges of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott serves as a bridge of the gang, a tale-end millennial adept for connecting both generations).
Influences and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being a fan, citing the show together with Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as influences for her series, which details the journey of an influencer Tallulah and ally who is also aspiring representative Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the biggest presence on creative vision belonged to the HBO series, that HBO sitcom focusing on an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in a gritty LA scene (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it during the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she notes. The inspiration for this project originated—to some extent—from firsthand, at first fractious, transition to Tinseltown and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed event for followers. It was a phase that saw her learn some big truths, professionally and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “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
Growing up in the East Coast, the star commenced writing and performing comedy while enrolled in acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “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 seized control, appearing at amateur nights with her friend and uploading hysterical (and very) bizarre comedy videos on the internet. One, Baby Cult, depicted a group of women fetishistically fixated on pregnancy; a different one imagined working at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being stuck in a horror film. By chance, she encountered Seligman through the university’s film scene and ended up appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her journey, she explains, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, instead of the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, adding humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who were skeptical about her previously will certainly be kicking themselves today. As part of she describes as a “incredibly circular” development, she has manifested her dream vehicle. In 2019 she posted a clip named on LA life online, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a comedy about city dwellers juggling the perks of online celebrity (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your friend being suspected of being a intoxicated stealer, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). Some could simple to make a program about internet celebrity that was horribly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that belittled at those depicted. I Love LA does neither, creating a portrait of advantaged twentysomething living that’s honest about the grot and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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
