The actress and writer on her hilarious comedy depicting the chaotic glamour of Gen Z existence
The star appears on the digital interview and immediately begins an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, seeming really apologetic. She is only a bit late, she needs 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!” Luckily, during an interview, this is exactly what one hopes to encounter. Moreover, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone familiar with her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and outspoken project Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and starred in with her friend the talented actress—would understand that Sennott holds plenty to share, be it about gender, intimacy, or the pros of forming a youth combat group. Plus, by the end her new eight-part show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star has additional insights about the darker side of modern youth (As a millennial, she serves as a relatable figure for this generation, on the cusp skilled for connecting different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and the actress is a fan, referencing it in addition to the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as influences for the project, which details the travails of online personality Tallulah and ally and fledgling representative portrayed by Sennott. However, the biggest spot on the moodboard was reserved for Entourage, the show depicting an up-and-coming A-list actor navigating in a corrupt Hollywood (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott began viewing it amid the pandemic, became “captivated”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective 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 says. The inspiration for the series came—partly—from personal, at first difficult, move to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a popular event for astrology heads. It was a phase that involved her understand significant life lessons, work-wise and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “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
Growing up in New England, the star began writing and performing humor while enrolled in theatre at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” 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 took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at open mics with Ayo and uploading hysterical (and distinctly) weird skits digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed several females fetishistically fixated on having babies; a different one portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being trapped in a horror film. By chance, she encountered Emma through NYU’s movie community and eventually starring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the intense thriller. The central motif of her career, she notes, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, instead of traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, stating humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who had doubts regarding her then will certainly be regretting it today. As part of she labels a “wild, full-circle” development, she appears to manifested an ideal role. A few years back she shared a clip titled “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she mocked movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a series about city dwellers juggling benefits of internet fame (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your client being labeled as being a drug-addled stealer, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). Some could tempting to create a show about internet celebrity that was overly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that mocked at the characters. This show steers clear of each, resulting in a portrait of affluent young adult existence that’s honest about the mess and the shine.
Empathetic Approach
“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
