The performer enters the digital interview and at once launches into an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, appearing truly remorseful. She is only slightly late, she needs 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 one hopes to experience. Moreover, it’s quite expected. Viewers who have seen her boldly queer and brash project titled Bottoms—which she co-wrote with the director and starred in alongside her friend Ayo Edebiri—would understand that she holds a lot to say, ranging from on roles, intimacy, or the pros of forming a teen combat group. And, once you finish her recent multi-episode program I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has further perspectives about the darker side of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott represents a relatable figure to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial adept for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being an admirer, naming the show in addition to Sex and the City, Insecure and the innovative program as guides for her series, which tracks the journey of an influencer Tallulah and her friend and fledgling agent Maia. Notably, the most significant presence on the moodboard went to Entourage, the HBO sitcom about an up-and-coming A-list actor navigating in a gritty entertainment industry (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She began viewing it amid the pandemic, became “hooked”, 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 this project emerged—in part—from personal, initially fractious, move to Tinseltown and from the cosmic event, a popular occurrence for astrology heads. This represented a phase that involved her learn some big truths, professionally and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “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…”
Starting Out
Raised in Connecticut, Sennott began developing and showcasing stand-up while studying performance at a prestigious arts school. “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. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at live shows with Ayo and sharing uproarious (and decidedly) bizarre comedy videos online. One, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women obsessively obsessed with pregnancy; a different one imagined being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being trapped in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she met Seligman through the university’s film scene and ended up appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a religious event with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her path, she says, has been people her own age supporting her, instead of established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, adding humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Individuals who were skeptical regarding her earlier will surely be regretting it now. Through she labels a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she has achieved the perfect project. Previously she uploaded content named on LA life on social media, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a series about Angelenos managing the perks of digital stardom (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being suspected of being a intoxicated stealer, and potentially becoming a unreliable persona non grata). It would be simple to create a series about internet celebrity that was extremely aspirational—or, worse, one that belittled at its subjects. The series does neither, making for a depiction of affluent millennial living that’s honest about the chaos and the glamour.
Empathetic Approach
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
