The actress and writer on her side-splitting series about that grotty appeal of Gen Z existence
The star enters the online meeting and immediately starts an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, appearing genuinely regretful. Despite being only a bit delayed, she feels compelled to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, in this context, this is precisely what is ideal to experience. Moreover, it’s fairly expected. Viewers familiar with the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and brash movie Bottoms—that she penned with her creative partner and appeared in with her friend the talented actress—will already know that she possesses much to discuss, ranging from about identity, sex, or the appeal of forming a high-school combat group. Plus, by the end her recent multi-episode program I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star holds even more insights on the darker side of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott is a relatable figure to younger audiences, straddling eras skilled for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, naming the show alongside Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as inspirations for the project, which follows the travails of a social media star Tallulah and close companion and fledgling talent manager Sennott’s character. However, the largest influence on concept belonged to the popular sitcom, that show depicting an up-and-coming A-list actor navigating in an often-seedy Hollywood (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott discovered it during lockdown, became “hooked”, and decided to create a new version 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 notes. The idea for I Love LA originated—in part—from her own, initially fractious, relocation to LA and from the cosmic event, a much-talked-about occurrence for followers. That period marked a phase that saw her grasp significant life lessons, professionally and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in New England, the star began developing and showcasing stand-up while studying acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” 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.”
She took matters into her own hands, performing at live shows with her friend and uploading uproarious (and distinctly) unconventional online content digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed several females intensely fixated on having babies; a different one portrayed working at the brand Hollister as similar to being caught in a thriller. By chance, she met Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a Jewish wake with hints of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her career, she notes, has been contemporaries supporting her, rather than traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she confirms, continuing humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who questioned regarding Sennott previously will likely be feeling foolish now. In what she calls a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she appears to manifested an ideal role. In 2019 she uploaded a video called about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a series about LA residents balancing advantages of internet fame (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being suspected of being a intoxicated stealer, and perhaps becoming a unreliable pariah). One might easy to create a series about internet celebrity that was horribly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that belittled at its subjects. The series steers clear of each, creating a portrait of advantaged young adult living that’s candid about the chaos and the shine.
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
