🔗 Share this article

The performer enters the digital interview and immediately begins an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, seeming genuinely regretful. She is only slightly delayed, she needs to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s precisely what one hopes to experience. Moreover, it’s quite predictable. Viewers who have seen her fearlessly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass film titled Bottoms—which she co-wrote with Emma Seligman and appeared in together with her friend the talented actress—will already know that she possesses plenty to share, be it about gender, relationships, or the appeal of forming a teen brawl society. Plus, once you finish the recent eight-part program titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star carries further insights on the challenges of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, she is a relatable figure of the gang, on the cusp with a knack for straddling different age groups).

Inspirations and Storytelling Approach

The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and the actress is an admirer, referencing it together with the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as guides for the project, which details the journey of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and new representative portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the largest presence on creative vision went to the HBO series, the program depicting a rising Hollywood star succeeding in an often-seedy Hollywood (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott began viewing it throughout COVID-19, became “captivated”, and decided to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.

“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The idea for this project came—partly—from firsthand, at first fractious, move to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a popular phenomenon for enthusiasts. That period marked a time that saw her understand some big life lessons, in her career and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Humble Origins

Growing up in Connecticut, Sennott started writing and performing comedy while enrolled in acting at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

Sennott took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at amateur nights with Edebiri and sharing hilarious (and distinctly) unconventional skits on the internet. One, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women fetishistically drawn to motherhood; another portrayed being employed at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being stuck in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up starring in her directorial debut, 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 people her own age supporting her, as opposed to the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she confirms, adding humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”

Career Breakthrough

Individuals who were skeptical about Sennott previously will likely be feeling foolish currently. In what she labels a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she seems to have created the perfect project. In 2019 she uploaded a video titled on LA life on social media, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a series about Angelenos balancing benefits of internet fame (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your friend being accused of being a drug-addled thief, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). Some could tempting to create a show about online fame that was overly aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at its subjects. The series avoids both, resulting in a representation of affluent twentysomething existence that’s candid about the chaos and the appeal.

Empathetic Approach

“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” she observes. “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