The actress and writer discussing the side-splitting show depicting that grotty allure of Gen Z life
The star joins the online meeting and immediately begins an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, sounding really regretful. Despite being only a bit delayed, she needs to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, during an interview, that’s precisely what one hopes to encounter. Moreover, it’s pretty unsurprising. Viewers familiar with her unapologetically openly gay and unapologetically crass project Bottoms—which Sennott penned with the director and featured in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—would be aware that Sennott possesses a lot to say, be it on roles, intimacy, or the merits of starting a high-school combat group. Furthermore, by the end her latest multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that she carries additional perspectives on the struggles of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as a relatable figure to younger audiences, straddling eras adept for connecting both generations).
Influences and Creative Vision
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and the actress is an admirer, citing it together with the classic series, Insecure and the innovative program as inspirations for I Love LA, which details the struggles of an influencer Tallulah and her friend and new representative Sennott’s character. However, the biggest influence on creative vision went to the HBO series, that show depicting an emerging celebrity succeeding in a corrupt entertainment industry (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott started watching it amid COVID-19, became “captivated”, and decided to put her own twist 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 explains. The concept for I Love LA emerged—in part—from her own, at first difficult, move to Tinseltown and from the saturn return, a frequently discussed event for enthusiasts. It was a phase that included her grasp some big insights, in her career and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Humble Origins
Growing up in Connecticut, the star began writing and performing humor while studying acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at live shows with her friend and posting hilarious (and distinctly) unconventional skits online. One, titled Baby Cult, followed several females fetishistically drawn to having babies; a different one imagined working at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being stuck in a thriller. Interestingly, she connected with Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ultimately appearing in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a religious event with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her journey, she explains, has been people her own age supporting her, as opposed to established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, adding with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who questioned about Sennott then will certainly be feeling foolish now. Through she describes as a “incredibly circular” story, she has created the perfect project. A few years back she shared a clip called on LA life online, in which she parodied film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about city dwellers managing benefits of internet fame (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your associate being labeled as being a drug-addled thief, and perhaps becoming a unreliable outcast). One might tempting to produce a series about internet celebrity that was horribly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at those depicted. This show does neither, making for a depiction of advantaged young adult living that’s honest about the chaos and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“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