The star joins the online meeting and immediately launches into an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, sounding genuinely apologetic. Although she's only a bit behind, she needs to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, for a writer, this is just what one hopes to encounter. Besides, it’s quite unsurprising. Those familiar with her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and outspoken movie titled Bottoms—that she collaborated on with her creative partner and appeared in together with her friend the talented actress—would be aware that she possesses plenty to discuss, ranging from on roles, sex, or the merits of forming a teen combat group. Plus, once you finish her latest eight-part HBO series titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she holds further insights on the challenges of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, she is a bridge of the gang, a tale-end millennial with a knack for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, referencing the show alongside the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as guides for her series, which follows the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and new agent Maia. Perhaps, the largest influence on the moodboard was reserved for Entourage, the program depicting an emerging Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt LA scene (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott started watching it throughout COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and resolved to create a new version 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 explains. The idea for this project emerged—partly—from her own, at first difficult, transition to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a popular phenomenon for followers. This represented a phase that saw her learn major truths, professionally and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Humble Origins
Raised in the East Coast, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing humor while studying performance at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” 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 decided to act independently, performing at amateur nights with Edebiri and sharing hilarious (and decidedly) bizarre comedy videos digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, followed several females obsessively obsessed with having babies; another portrayed being employed at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being stuck in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ended up appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a religious event with echoes of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her journey, she explains, has been contemporaries supporting her, instead of established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, adding amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Anyone who were skeptical about Sennott previously will likely be regretting it currently. In what she labels a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she appears to achieved the perfect project. A few years back she shared content called about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a series about LA residents juggling the perks of online celebrity (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your client being accused of being a drug-addled stealer, and potentially becoming a unreliable pariah). It would be easy to make a series about online fame that was overly idealized—or, more problematic, one that belittled at the characters. This show avoids both, creating a portrait of privileged young adult life that’s frank about the grot and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
