The star joins the online meeting and at once launches into an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, seeming truly apologetic. Although she's only a couple of minutes late, she needs to justify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, during an interview, this is exactly what is ideal to experience. Besides, it’s fairly expected. Anyone who know the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass film titled Bottoms—which Sennott penned with her creative partner and featured in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—would understand that she possesses much to say, ranging from about gender, sex, or the merits of starting a youth combat group. Furthermore, once you finish her latest multi-episode program I Love LA, it is clear that the star has even more insights regarding the struggles of Gen Z life (At 30, she serves as a bridge to younger audiences, straddling eras with a knack for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and Sennott admits to being an admirer, referencing it together with the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as inspirations for the project, which follows the struggles of a social media star Tallulah and close companion who is also aspiring talent manager Maia. Perhaps, the largest influence on creative vision belonged to the HBO series, the show about an emerging Hollywood star making his way in an often-seedy LA scene (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it during lockdown, became “captivated”, and decided to add a fresh perspective 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 explains. The idea for the series emerged—partly—from personal, initially difficult, relocation to LA and from her astrological phase, a popular phenomenon for followers. That period marked a time that saw her grasp significant truths, professionally and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Brought up in Connecticut, the star began developing and showcasing humor while enrolled in theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “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. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at live shows with her friend and posting hysterical (and decidedly) bizarre skits online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on a group of women obsessively drawn to pregnancy; another portrayed working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being stuck in a scary movie. By chance, she met Seligman through campus film circles and eventually appearing in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a funeral gathering with echoes of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her path, she says, has been people her own age supporting her, instead of traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, stating humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who had doubts regarding Sennott previously will surely be kicking themselves currently. In what she describes as a “wild, full-circle” development, she appears to created an ideal role. A few years back she shared a clip called on LA life on the internet, in which she parodied film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a series about LA residents balancing benefits of internet fame (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your client being suspected of being a substance-abusing thief, and possibly becoming a unreliable persona non grata). One might simple to make a program about online fame that was horribly glamorous—or, worse, one that punched down at the characters. The series avoids both, creating a portrait of affluent millennial living that’s candid about the chaos and the glamour.
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 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
