🔗 Share this article

The performer enters the video call and at once begins an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, appearing genuinely regretful. She is only a bit late, she wants to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s precisely what you want to encounter. Moreover, it’s pretty expected. Those who know her unapologetically openly gay and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—which she co-wrote with the director and featured in with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will already know that she possesses a lot to say, be it on identity, sex, or the pros of forming a teen brawl society. Plus, by the end the latest eight-part show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she holds additional insights regarding the darker side of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she serves as an honorary member to younger audiences, on the cusp with a knack for straddling millennials and Gen Z).

Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott is an admirer, naming it alongside the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as guides for the project, which details the journey of online personality Tallulah and her friend and fledgling representative Maia. Perhaps, the biggest spot on creative vision belonged to Entourage, that program depicting a rising A-list actor navigating in an often-seedy Hollywood (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott discovered it throughout the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and decided to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.

“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she explains. The inspiration for the series emerged—partly—from firsthand, originally fractious, move to LA and from the saturn return, a popular event for enthusiasts. That period marked a time that involved her learn some big truths, work-wise and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “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…”

Starting Out

Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott started creating and acting comedy while enrolled in performance at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”

She took matters into her own hands, appearing at open mics with Edebiri and uploading hysterical (and very) weird skits digitally. One, Baby Cult, followed characters intensely drawn to having babies; a different one portrayed working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being stuck in a thriller. By chance, she connected with Seligman through NYU’s movie community and eventually appearing in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a funeral gathering with hints of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her path, she says, has been people her own age giving her a shot, as opposed to the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, continuing with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”

Rising Success

Individuals who had doubts regarding her earlier will certainly be kicking themselves currently. In what she describes as a “wild, full-circle” story, she seems to have achieved an ideal role. In 2019 she shared a video called about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a series about LA residents balancing advantages of online celebrity (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your client being suspected of being a drug-addled thief, and possibly becoming a risky outcast). One might tempting to make a series about internet celebrity that was horribly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that belittled at those depicted. The series avoids both, resulting in a representation of affluent twentysomething living that’s candid about the chaos and the appeal.

Empathetic Approach

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