The comedic talent on her side-splitting series depicting that chaotic allure of Gen Z existence

The star appears on the digital interview and right away starts an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, sounding genuinely apologetic. She is only a bit late, she wants to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, in this context, that’s precisely what is ideal to experience. Besides, it’s fairly predictable. Anyone who have seen the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and brash project titled Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and featured in together with her friend the talented actress—can understand that Sennott has a lot to share, be it on gender, intimacy, or the merits of starting a high-school fight club. And, by the end her recent eight-part HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star has additional insights on the struggles of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, she represents a relatable figure for this generation, a tale-end millennial adept for bridging millennials and Gen Z).

Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach

Parallels to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges a fan, naming the show together with the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as influences for her series, which details the struggles of a social media star Tallulah and her friend who is also aspiring agent Maia. Notably, the most significant presence on the moodboard went to the popular sitcom, the program about an up-and-coming Hollywood star making his way in a corrupt Hollywood (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott discovered it during the pandemic, became “hooked”, and decided 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 notes. The concept for this project came—to some extent—from firsthand, initially rocky, transition to LA and from her astrological phase, a popular occurrence for followers. This represented an era that included her learn major insights, work-wise and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “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 commenced writing and performing comedy while enrolled in performance at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “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.”

Sennott seized control, performing at amateur nights with Ayo and posting hilarious (and very) unconventional skits on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women obsessively fixated on motherhood; a different one envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being caught in a scary movie. By chance, she connected with Seligman through the university’s film scene and ended up featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a funeral gathering with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her career, she says, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, as opposed to established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she repeats, adding with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”

Career Breakthrough

Those who were skeptical about her earlier will likely be feeling foolish currently. Through she describes as a “incredibly circular” story, she appears to manifested an ideal role. A few years back she shared a video titled about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she mocked movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a comedy about Angelenos managing advantages of digital stardom (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being labeled as being a substance-abusing criminal, and perhaps becoming a risky pariah). It would be simple to create a series about online fame that was extremely aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA does neither, creating a representation of privileged twentysomething existence that’s honest about the mess and the glamour.

Nuanced Portrayal

“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

Lisa Jordan
Lisa Jordan

A certified mindfulness coach and writer passionate about helping others find peace through meditation and holistic wellness practices.