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The star enters the digital interview and immediately starts an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, seeming really apologetic. She is only slightly late, she needs to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, during an interview, this is precisely what you want to hear. Moreover, it’s fairly expected. Anyone familiar with the boldly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass project Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and featured in together with close companion the talented actress—will understand that she has plenty to discuss, ranging from on roles, intimacy, or the pros of starting a teen brawl society. Furthermore, after watching her latest multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that she carries further insights on the darker side of Gen Z life (As a millennial, Sennott is a relatable figure for this generation, a tale-end millennial with a knack for straddling millennials and Gen Z).

Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and the actress is an admirer, referencing it together with the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as guides for her series, which details the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and fledgling representative portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the biggest spot on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, that HBO sitcom depicting an up-and-coming celebrity succeeding in a corrupt entertainment industry (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She discovered it during lockdown, became “obsessed”, 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 this project emerged—to some extent—from her own, at first difficult, relocation to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a frequently discussed occurrence for followers. That period marked a time that saw her understand major truths, in her career and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” 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…”

Early Beginnings

Brought up in Connecticut, Sennott began creating and acting comedy while enrolled in acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”

Sennott took matters into her own hands, appearing at amateur nights with Ayo and sharing uproarious (and very) unconventional comedy videos online. One, Baby Cult, depicted several females obsessively obsessed with pregnancy; another envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being caught in a horror film. By chance, she connected with Emma through NYU’s movie community and ended up starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a Jewish wake with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her journey, she notes, has been people her own age offering opportunities, as opposed to established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, adding humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”

Rising Success

Anyone who had doubts regarding her then will likely be feeling foolish today. In what she calls a “wild, full-circle” development, she seems to have created her dream vehicle. In 2019 she posted a clip called “it’s LA” online, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a show about city dwellers managing benefits of online celebrity (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a drug-addled criminal, and potentially becoming a risky persona non grata). One might easy to create a program about internet celebrity that was extremely aspirational—or, more problematic, one that mocked at its subjects. This show does neither, creating a depiction of advantaged young adult living that’s candid about the grot and the shine.

Balanced Perspective

“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