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The performer enters the online meeting and immediately starts an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, seeming genuinely remorseful. Although she's only slightly delayed, she feels compelled to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, during an interview, this is exactly what is ideal to encounter. Moreover, it’s pretty unsurprising. Viewers who have seen the boldly LGBTQ+ and outspoken movie Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with Emma Seligman and featured in together with collaborator the talented actress—can understand that Sennott has plenty to say, ranging from about identity, sex, or the merits of starting a high-school fight club. Plus, by the end her recent seasonal HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has even more perspectives regarding the challenges of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she serves as an honorary member for this generation, straddling eras adept for straddling different age groups).

Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach

Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges enthusiastic, citing the show alongside Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for the project, which tracks the journey of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and aspiring representative Maia. Perhaps, the largest spot on the moodboard was reserved for Entourage, that show about an emerging celebrity succeeding in a corrupt LA scene (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott discovered it during lockdown, became “hooked”, and chose to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.

“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she explains. The inspiration for the series originated—in part—from personal, initially fractious, transition to Tinseltown and from the saturn return, a much-talked-about event for astrology heads. It was a time that involved her learn significant insights, work-wise and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “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 …”

Starting Out

Growing up in the East Coast, the star started writing and performing comedy while enrolled in performance at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”

She took matters into her own hands, performing at amateur nights with Ayo and posting uproarious (and decidedly) weird comedy videos online. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted characters intensely fixated on motherhood; a different one envisioned working at the brand Hollister as similar to being trapped in a thriller. By chance, she connected with Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a funeral gathering with shades of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her career, she explains, has been contemporaries supporting her, as opposed to established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, continuing with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”

Rising Success

Those who were skeptical about her previously will surely be regretting it now. As part of she calls a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she seems to have achieved her dream vehicle. A few years back she shared a video called about Los Angeles online, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a series about Angelenos managing the perks of online celebrity (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your associate being labeled as being a drug-addled criminal, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). Some could tempting to make a program about internet celebrity that was overly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at those depicted. This show steers clear of each, resulting in a portrait of privileged millennial life that’s candid about the mess and the shine.

Nuanced Portrayal

“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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