The actress and writer on her hilarious comedy about the messy appeal of Gen Z existence
The star appears on the online meeting and right away starts an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, appearing truly regretful. She is only slightly delayed, she feels compelled to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, in this context, this is just what one hopes to experience. Besides, it’s pretty unsurprising. Viewers who know the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass movie Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with the director and starred in together with her friend Ayo Edebiri—will understand that she holds a lot to discuss, ranging from on roles, relationships, or the pros of forming a teen combat group. Furthermore, once you finish her new multi-episode HBO series I Love LA, it is clear that she holds further thoughts regarding the darker side of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, she represents a bridge of the gang, on the cusp with a knack for straddling different age groups).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being enthusiastic, naming it alongside the HBO hit, Insecure and Atlanta as influences for her series, which follows the travails of an influencer Tallulah and her friend who is also aspiring representative portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the biggest presence on the moodboard went to the popular sitcom, that HBO sitcom about an emerging A-list actor making his way in an often-seedy LA scene (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it throughout the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and chose to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The idea for this project emerged—in part—from personal, originally fractious, transition to Los Angeles and from her cosmic event, a popular event for followers. This represented an era that saw her learn some big life lessons, work-wise and in private life. “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…”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in New England, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing comedy while enrolled in performance at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “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?”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at open mics with Edebiri and sharing uproarious (and decidedly) unconventional skits online. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on characters intensely fixated on having babies; another portrayed working at a trendy retail outlet as like being stuck in a horror film. By chance, she connected with Seligman through the university’s film scene and ultimately appearing in her first film, Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her journey, she notes, has been people her own age offering opportunities, instead of established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, continuing with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Individuals who questioned about Sennott then will certainly be feeling foolish now. Through she describes as a “incredibly circular” story, she appears to achieved an ideal role. Previously she shared a clip titled on LA life on social media, in which she parodied film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a series about city dwellers juggling benefits of internet fame (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your client being labeled as being a intoxicated stealer, and potentially becoming a unreliable persona non grata). Some could easy to create a series about internet celebrity that was horribly idealized—or, more problematic, one that belittled at those depicted. The series avoids both, resulting in a representation of privileged millennial existence that’s candid about the grot and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” she comments. “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
