The star enters the online meeting and immediately begins an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, seeming genuinely remorseful. She is only a couple of minutes behind, she needs to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, in this context, this is exactly what one hopes to experience. Additionally, it’s quite expected. Anyone familiar with the fearlessly queer and brash project titled Bottoms—which she co-wrote with her creative partner and starred in with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that Sennott possesses a lot to share, whether about identity, sex, or the pros of creating a high-school fight club. And, by the end her recent multi-episode show I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she holds further thoughts on the darker side of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, she represents a relatable figure to younger audiences, on the cusp adept for straddling both generations).
Influences and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is a fan, referencing it together with the HBO hit, Insecure and Atlanta as guides for I Love LA, which details the journey of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and fledgling representative portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the biggest presence on creative vision went to Entourage, that program focusing on an emerging Hollywood star navigating in an often-seedy LA scene (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She started watching it amid lockdown, became “captivated”, and chose to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The concept for this project originated—to some extent—from her own, initially fractious, transition to Tinseltown and from her astrological phase, a popular occurrence for followers. This represented a phase that involved her grasp major truths, in her career and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” 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…”
Humble Origins
Growing up in New England, the star started creating and acting humor while pursuing theatre at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She seized control, appearing at live shows with Edebiri and posting hysterical (and very) weird online content on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted several females intensely fixated on having babies; another portrayed working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being trapped in a scary movie. Interestingly, she met Seligman through the university’s film scene and eventually appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she says, has been peers giving her a shot, rather than established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, adding amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Individuals who were skeptical regarding Sennott previously will likely be feeling foolish today. In what she describes as a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she seems to have achieved her dream vehicle. A few years back she uploaded a clip called on LA life on the internet, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a series about LA residents balancing advantages of digital stardom (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being suspected of being a intoxicated stealer, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). One might tempting to produce a series about digital influence that was overly glamorous—or, worse, one that punched down at those depicted. This show avoids both, resulting in a depiction of privileged twentysomething existence that’s frank about the mess and the glamour.
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
