The performer enters the online meeting and at once starts an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, appearing truly apologetic. Although she's only a bit behind, she wants to justify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, during an interview, this is exactly what is ideal to experience. Moreover, it’s quite expected. Anyone familiar with her fearlessly openly gay and brash project titled Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with her creative partner and starred in with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will already know that Sennott has plenty to say, be it about roles, sex, or the merits of creating a teen combat group. Furthermore, once you finish the recent multi-episode program titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has further perspectives about the struggles of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott is a bridge of the gang, on the cusp with a knack for connecting both generations).
Influences and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, citing the show alongside the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as influences for her series, which details the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and fledgling agent portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the biggest presence on concept went to the popular sitcom, that program depicting a rising celebrity succeeding in a corrupt entertainment industry (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott began viewing it during lockdown, became “captivated”, and resolved to create a new version 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 says. The concept for this project emerged—to some extent—from firsthand, at first fractious, move to Tinseltown and from the astrological phase, a popular occurrence for astrology heads. It was an era that saw her learn significant insights, work-wise and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Brought up in the East Coast, Sennott started writing and performing humor while studying theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She seized control, performing at live shows with Ayo and uploading hilarious (and distinctly) weird online content online. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed several females fetishistically obsessed with pregnancy; another envisioned being employed at the brand Hollister as similar to being caught in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Seligman through campus film circles and eventually appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her path, she says, has been people her own age supporting her, as opposed to the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, continuing amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Anyone who had doubts about Sennott previously will certainly be regretting it currently. In what she describes as a “astonishingly complete” story, she appears to created an ideal role. Previously she uploaded content called on LA life on the internet, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a show about Angelenos managing benefits of online celebrity (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your client being labeled as being a substance-abusing criminal, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). One might simple to produce a show about digital influence that was horribly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at the characters. This show steers clear of each, creating a portrait of privileged young adult life that’s frank about the grot and the appeal.
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 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
