The performer enters the video call and right away launches into an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, sounding truly remorseful. Although she's only slightly behind, she feels compelled to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, in this context, that’s just what one hopes to encounter. Besides, it’s quite expected. Those who have seen her fearlessly queer and outspoken project titled Bottoms—which she penned with her creative partner and appeared in with close companion Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that she possesses plenty to say, ranging from on roles, relationships, or the appeal of starting a youth brawl society. Plus, after watching the recent multi-episode program I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds further insights about the challenges of modern youth (As a millennial, she serves as an honorary member for this generation, on the cusp skilled for bridging different age groups).
Influences and Creative Vision
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges enthusiastic, referencing it together with Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as inspirations for the project, which follows the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and aspiring agent Maia. Notably, the most significant influence on creative vision belonged to the HBO series, the program depicting an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in an often-seedy Hollywood (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it amid the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and chose to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The idea for the series emerged—partly—from personal, originally fractious, relocation to Tinseltown and from the saturn return, a frequently discussed event for astrology heads. This represented a phase that saw her learn major life lessons, work-wise and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Growing up in New England, the star started writing and performing humor 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. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and sharing uproarious (and decidedly) weird online content online. One, Baby Cult, depicted characters intensely drawn to having babies; a different one portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being trapped in a thriller. By chance, she met Emma through NYU’s movie community and ended up appearing in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a Jewish wake with hints of the intense thriller. The central motif of her path, she says, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, instead of the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she repeats, adding with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who had doubts regarding her previously will likely be feeling foolish today. Through she calls a “astonishingly complete” development, she appears to manifested an ideal role. Previously she shared a video called about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a show about city dwellers balancing the perks of internet fame (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your associate being accused of being a drug-addled criminal, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). Some could easy to create a series about online fame that was horribly aspirational—or, worse, one that belittled at those depicted. This show does neither, resulting in a portrait of advantaged twentysomething existence that’s frank about the chaos and the glamour.
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 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
