The star joins the video call and at once begins an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, sounding genuinely remorseful. Despite being only a couple of minutes late, she wants to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, during an interview, that’s just what you want to encounter. Besides, it’s fairly predictable. Anyone who have seen her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—that she collaborated on with the director and featured in with her friend Ayo Edebiri—would understand that Sennott possesses plenty to say, ranging from on gender, sex, or the merits of forming a high-school brawl society. And, by the end the recent multi-episode HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she holds even more perspectives on the darker side of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she represents a relatable figure to younger audiences, on the cusp with a knack for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Creative Vision
Parallels to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott readily acknowledges an admirer, referencing it in addition to the HBO hit, Insecure and Atlanta as guides for the project, which tracks the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also new talent manager Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the biggest influence on creative vision went to Entourage, that show focusing on an up-and-coming celebrity navigating in an often-seedy LA scene (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it throughout COVID-19, became “captivated”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she notes. The concept for this project originated—in part—from firsthand, at first difficult, transition to Los Angeles and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed occurrence for enthusiasts. That period marked a phase that included her grasp major truths, work-wise and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “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, the star commenced developing and showcasing stand-up while enrolled in performance at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” 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.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at amateur nights with her friend and posting hilarious (and distinctly) unconventional online content online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women intensely obsessed with having babies; a different one portrayed being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being stuck in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ultimately starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a religious event with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her journey, she says, has been people her own age offering opportunities, rather than traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, adding humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who were skeptical about Sennott earlier will surely be feeling foolish today. As part of she calls a “wild, full-circle” development, she appears to created her dream vehicle. A few years back she posted a clip titled on LA life on the internet, in which she lampooned film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a show about LA residents juggling benefits of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a drug-addled criminal, and possibly becoming a risky outcast). Some could tempting to produce a show about digital influence that was overly idealized—or, worse, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA does neither, making for a depiction of affluent twentysomething living that’s candid about the chaos and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” she says. “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
