The actress and writer on her side-splitting show portraying that grotty appeal of Gen Z existence
The star enters the online meeting and at once begins an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, appearing truly apologetic. She is only slightly late, she wants to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s precisely what you want to hear. Moreover, it’s pretty unsurprising. Anyone who have seen her unapologetically openly gay and unapologetically crass project Bottoms—that she penned with the director and starred in alongside close companion The Bear’s standout—would be aware that she possesses much to say, be it on identity, intimacy, or the pros of starting a high-school combat group. Furthermore, by the end the recent multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star has additional insights regarding the darker side of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, she is an honorary member for this generation, a tale-end millennial with a knack for connecting both generations).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and the actress readily acknowledges an admirer, citing it alongside the HBO hit, Insecure and the innovative program as inspirations for I Love LA, which tracks the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion who is also aspiring agent portrayed by Sennott. However, the most significant spot on creative vision belonged to the popular sitcom, the show about an emerging Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt Hollywood (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She began viewing it during the pandemic, became “captivated”, and resolved 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 says. The concept for I Love LA originated—in part—from her own, originally difficult, move to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a much-talked-about occurrence for astrology heads. That period marked an era that saw her learn some big truths, work-wise and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Starting Out
Brought up in Connecticut, Sennott started writing and performing humor while pursuing performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She seized control, appearing at amateur nights with her friend and posting hilarious (and distinctly) unconventional online content on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed characters fetishistically fixated on having babies; another envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as like being trapped in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Emma through the university’s film scene and eventually appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a religious event with shades of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her career, she says, has been contemporaries supporting her, as opposed to the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, stating humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who were skeptical regarding her previously will surely be kicking themselves now. In what she describes as a “astonishingly complete” story, she appears to achieved an ideal role. In 2019 she posted a clip titled about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a series about LA residents balancing benefits of digital stardom (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your client being accused of being a intoxicated thief, and perhaps becoming a risky pariah). Some could tempting to create a series about online fame that was overly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at the characters. The series does neither, resulting in a depiction of advantaged millennial life that’s frank about the grot and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“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