The comedic talent discussing her side-splitting series about that grotty appeal of younger generation existence
The star enters the digital interview and immediately starts an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, appearing really apologetic. Despite being only a bit late, she needs to justify. “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, in this context, that’s exactly what you want to encounter. Additionally, it’s pretty expected. Those who have seen the fearlessly queer and outspoken project Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and starred in with close companion The Bear’s standout—will already know that she holds a lot to discuss, be it about gender, intimacy, or the merits of forming a teen combat group. Plus, by the end her latest seasonal show I Love LA, it is clear that she has even more thoughts regarding the darker side of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, she serves as a bridge of the gang, on the cusp with a knack for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott is an admirer, referencing the show together with Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as influences for her series, which follows the travails of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and fledgling representative Maia. However, the most significant spot on the moodboard went to the HBO series, that show depicting a rising A-list actor succeeding in a gritty entertainment industry (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it throughout lockdown, became “obsessed”, and chose to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she explains. The idea for the series originated—to some extent—from firsthand, at first rocky, transition to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a popular occurrence for followers. It was an era that saw her grasp major insights, in her career and individually. “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
Raised in Connecticut, Sennott began creating and acting comedy while pursuing acting at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott seized control, appearing at open mics with her friend and uploading hilarious (and decidedly) bizarre skits on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted several females obsessively drawn to motherhood; a different one imagined working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being caught in a thriller. By chance, she met Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately appearing in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a Jewish wake with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her career, she explains, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, instead of traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, continuing humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who had doubts regarding her then will surely be regretting it today. Through she calls a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she seems to have created an ideal role. A few years back she posted a clip titled “it’s LA” online, in which she mocked film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a show about city dwellers juggling the perks of internet fame (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being labeled as being a substance-abusing thief, and possibly becoming a unreliable pariah). Some could simple to create a series about digital influence that was extremely glamorous—or, more problematic, one that punched down at those depicted. This show steers clear of each, creating a depiction of advantaged millennial life that’s honest about the mess and the glamour.
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 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
