The actress and writer discussing her hilarious series depicting the chaotic glamour of younger generation life
The performer joins the digital interview and right away launches into an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, sounding truly apologetic. Although she's only slightly delayed, she feels compelled to explain. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s precisely what you want to encounter. Additionally, it’s pretty unsurprising. Anyone who know the unapologetically queer and brash film Bottoms—that Sennott penned with her creative partner and appeared in alongside her friend Ayo Edebiri—can understand that she holds a lot to share, ranging from on identity, intimacy, or the merits of forming a youth brawl society. Plus, by the end the recent multi-episode program I Love LA, viewers realize that she has further thoughts on the struggles of modern youth (At 30, she represents an honorary member for this generation, a tale-end millennial adept for bridging both generations).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and the actress readily acknowledges a fan, naming it together with the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as influences for the project, which follows the struggles of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also fledgling agent Sennott’s character. However, the biggest influence on concept belonged to the HBO series, that program depicting an up-and-coming A-list actor succeeding in an often-seedy Hollywood (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She started watching it during COVID-19, became “hooked”, and chose to create a new version 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 explains. The idea for this project originated—to some extent—from her own, at first difficult, move to LA and from the astrological phase, a popular occurrence for enthusiasts. It was a phase that saw her grasp significant truths, work-wise and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Brought up in the East Coast, Sennott started creating and acting stand-up while enrolled in acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott seized control, performing at live shows with Ayo and posting hysterical (and decidedly) bizarre skits digitally. One, Baby Cult, centered on characters obsessively fixated on pregnancy; another imagined working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being stuck in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and ended up appearing in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a Jewish wake with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her career, she notes, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, rather than the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, adding with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who were skeptical regarding Sennott earlier will surely be kicking themselves currently. In what she describes as a “astonishingly complete” story, she appears to created her dream vehicle. A few years back she uploaded a clip called “it’s LA” on social media, in which she mocked movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a show about Angelenos juggling advantages of digital stardom (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a substance-abusing thief, and possibly becoming a unreliable pariah). Some could easy to produce a show about online fame that was horribly idealized—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at those depicted. This show steers clear of each, creating a depiction of affluent young adult life that’s candid about the chaos and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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