The star enters the video call and at once launches into an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, appearing truly remorseful. Despite being only slightly late, she feels compelled to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, for a writer, this is exactly what is ideal to hear. Additionally, it’s quite expected. Anyone who have seen the boldly LGBTQ+ and brash movie titled Bottoms—that she collaborated on with the director and starred in together with her friend The Bear’s standout—will already know that she has much to say, be it about identity, intimacy, or the appeal of forming a youth combat group. Plus, by the end her recent eight-part program titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds even more perspectives about the darker side of young adulthood (At 30, she serves as an honorary member for this generation, on the cusp skilled for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being a fan, referencing the show together with Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as guides for I Love LA, which follows the travails of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also new agent portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the largest influence on creative vision went to Entourage, the program about a rising celebrity navigating in a gritty entertainment industry (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott began viewing it amid the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and resolved 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 says. The concept for this project originated—in part—from personal, at first fractious, relocation to Tinseltown and from her astrological phase, a frequently discussed event for astrology heads. It was a phase that saw her grasp some big insights, work-wise and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” 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 the East Coast, the star started creating and acting comedy while studying theatre 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.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She decided to act independently, taking the stage at amateur nights with Ayo and posting uproarious (and decidedly) bizarre online content on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on characters fetishistically drawn to motherhood; another envisioned working at a trendy retail outlet as like being stuck in a thriller. By chance, she connected with Emma through NYU’s movie community and eventually appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a funeral gathering with echoes of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her journey, she says, has been people her own age giving her a shot, instead of the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she confirms, continuing amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Individuals who were skeptical regarding Sennott then will likely be feeling foolish currently. Through she labels a “incredibly circular” development, she seems to have achieved her dream vehicle. In 2019 she posted a clip titled about Los Angeles online, in which she parodied film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a show about Angelenos balancing advantages of digital stardom (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being accused of being a drug-addled stealer, and potentially becoming a risky persona non grata). One might easy to make a series about internet celebrity that was extremely aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at its subjects. The series does neither, making for a depiction of advantaged millennial living that’s candid about the mess and the shine.
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
