The star joins the online meeting and right away starts an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, sounding genuinely regretful. Although she's only slightly delayed, she feels compelled to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, for a writer, this is precisely what you want to hear. Additionally, it’s fairly expected. Anyone who know the unapologetically openly gay and outspoken movie Bottoms—that she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and appeared in with close companion The Bear’s standout—can be aware that Sennott has much to say, be it on identity, intimacy, or the appeal of forming a high-school combat group. And, once you finish the latest seasonal HBO series I Love LA, it is clear that she has further thoughts about the struggles of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she represents a relatable figure to younger audiences, on the cusp skilled for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and Sennott is an admirer, naming the show alongside Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as influences for the project, which details the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also aspiring talent manager Maia. However, the most significant influence on the moodboard belonged to the popular sitcom, that HBO sitcom focusing on an up-and-coming Hollywood star succeeding in an often-seedy entertainment industry (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She started watching it amid lockdown, became “obsessed”, and decided to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she says. The concept for this project originated—in part—from personal, at first difficult, relocation to Los Angeles and from the astrological phase, a much-talked-about event for enthusiasts. This represented an era that involved her learn some big life lessons, in her career and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Humble Origins
Growing up in New England, Sennott started creating and acting comedy while enrolled in 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. 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, appearing at live shows with Ayo and posting uproarious (and very) bizarre comedy videos on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed several females obsessively obsessed with motherhood; another portrayed being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being caught in a horror film. By chance, she encountered Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a Jewish wake with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her journey, she explains, has been peers giving her a shot, rather than established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, stating humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who were skeptical about her earlier will certainly be regretting it today. Through she calls a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she seems to have manifested her dream vehicle. Previously she posted content titled on LA life on the internet, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a series about city dwellers balancing benefits of online celebrity (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your associate being accused of being a intoxicated criminal, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). One might simple to create a program about internet celebrity that was extremely idealized—or, more problematic, one that mocked at the characters. This show steers clear of each, resulting in a depiction of affluent young adult life that’s candid about the chaos and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” she observes. “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
