🔗 Share this article

The performer joins the online meeting and at once begins an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, appearing really apologetic. Although she's only a couple of minutes delayed, she needs to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, for a writer, this is exactly what one hopes to encounter. Besides, it’s pretty predictable. Those who know her boldly LGBTQ+ and outspoken project Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and appeared in together with her friend the talented actress—can be aware that Sennott possesses a lot to say, be it about identity, relationships, or the appeal of forming a high-school combat group. And, once you finish her recent eight-part HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she carries additional perspectives about the struggles of modern youth (Now in her thirties, she serves as a bridge for this generation, straddling eras with a knack for connecting both generations).

Inspirations and Storytelling Approach

Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and the actress is a fan, citing the show alongside Sex and the City, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as influences for the project, which details the travails of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and fledgling talent manager Sennott’s character. Notably, the biggest influence on creative vision was reserved for the popular sitcom, that program depicting an up-and-coming celebrity navigating in a corrupt LA scene (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She discovered it during the pandemic, became “captivated”, 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 inspiration for this project originated—to some extent—from personal, initially difficult, relocation to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a popular event for followers. That period marked an era that included her learn some big truths, work-wise and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Humble Origins

Raised in the East Coast, Sennott began writing and performing comedy while enrolled in performance at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” 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 took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at open mics with Edebiri and uploading hysterical (and distinctly) unconventional skits online. One, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters intensely drawn to pregnancy; a different one envisioned working at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being stuck in a horror film. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ultimately starring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the intense thriller. The big theme of her career, she says, has been people her own age supporting her, rather than established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, adding amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”

Rising Success

Those who were skeptical regarding her earlier will surely be kicking themselves currently. As part of she calls a “wild, full-circle” story, she seems to have manifested an ideal role. A few years back she shared a video called about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she mocked movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a show about Angelenos managing the perks of digital stardom (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your client being labeled as being a substance-abusing criminal, and perhaps becoming a unreliable outcast). It would be tempting to create a show about internet celebrity that was extremely glamorous—or, more problematic, one that mocked at its subjects. This show steers clear of each, resulting in a representation of affluent millennial living that’s frank about the mess 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