The comedic talent on her uproarious series depicting the chaotic glamour of today's youth life
The performer joins the video call and immediately begins an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, appearing truly apologetic. She is only a bit delayed, she needs to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, for a writer, this is just what you want to experience. Additionally, it’s quite unsurprising. Those who know her boldly queer and brash movie Bottoms—that she co-wrote with her creative partner and starred in alongside close companion The Bear’s standout—would be aware that she holds much to say, whether about gender, relationships, or the pros of starting a high-school combat group. Plus, after watching the new multi-episode program titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star has further thoughts regarding the darker side of young adulthood (As a millennial, she represents an honorary member of the gang, straddling eras adept for bridging both generations).
Influences and Creative Vision
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and Sennott readily acknowledges an admirer, naming the show together with the HBO hit, Insecure and Atlanta as guides for I Love LA, which tracks the struggles of an influencer Tallulah and close companion and new talent manager Maia. Notably, the largest presence on creative vision went to the HBO series, the show focusing on a rising A-list actor navigating in a corrupt LA scene (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it during lockdown, became “captivated”, and chose to add a fresh perspective 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 concept for this project came—in part—from personal, initially difficult, transition to LA and from the saturn return, a frequently discussed occurrence for astrology heads. It was a time that involved her grasp significant insights, work-wise and individually. “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. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Starting Out
Raised in Connecticut, Sennott commenced writing and performing humor while pursuing theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She decided to act independently, appearing at live shows with Ayo and uploading hilarious (and very) unconventional comedy videos on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed characters fetishistically obsessed with having babies; a different one imagined being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being stuck in a scary movie. Interestingly, she encountered Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately appearing in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her career, she notes, has been people her own age giving her a shot, rather than established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she repeats, adding humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who were skeptical about her earlier will certainly be regretting it today. Through she describes as a “astonishingly complete” development, she has manifested the perfect project. In 2019 she shared a video named “it’s LA” online, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a show about city dwellers managing benefits of internet fame (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being accused of being a intoxicated stealer, and perhaps becoming a unreliable persona non grata). One might easy to produce a show about internet celebrity that was extremely aspirational—or, worse, one that belittled at the characters. This show steers clear of each, creating a portrait of privileged young adult existence that’s frank about the grot and the appeal.
Empathetic Approach
“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