The comedic talent discussing her uproarious comedy depicting that chaotic glamour of Gen Z existence

The star enters the digital interview and immediately launches into an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, appearing genuinely remorseful. Despite being only a bit delayed, she feels compelled to justify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, for a writer, this is precisely what is ideal to hear. Moreover, it’s pretty unsurprising. Anyone who know the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass film titled Bottoms—which she co-wrote with her creative partner and starred in alongside her friend Ayo Edebiri—would understand that Sennott has plenty to say, whether on identity, sex, or the appeal of forming a high-school combat group. Plus, after watching her latest eight-part HBO series I Love LA, viewers realize that she holds even more perspectives on the darker side of Gen Z life (At 30, Sennott serves as a relatable figure to younger audiences, on the cusp adept for connecting both generations).

Influences and Creative Vision

Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and the actress is an admirer, referencing the show together with the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as guides for her series, which details the struggles of an influencer Tallulah and close companion and new representative Maia. However, the most significant spot on concept was reserved for the HBO series, that program about a rising celebrity succeeding in a corrupt LA scene (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott started watching it during the pandemic, became “obsessed”, 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 inspiration for this project came—in part—from her own, initially rocky, relocation to Tinseltown and from the saturn return, a popular event for followers. That period marked an era that involved her grasp major life lessons, work-wise and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Early Beginnings

Growing up in New England, the star commenced writing and performing comedy while enrolled in acting at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

She took matters into her own hands, appearing at amateur nights with Edebiri and uploading hilarious (and very) bizarre comedy videos digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women fetishistically obsessed with having babies; another portrayed working at a trendy retail outlet as like being trapped in a horror film. By chance, she connected with Emma through campus film circles and ultimately starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her path, she notes, has been people her own age giving her a shot, rather than established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she repeats, continuing with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”

Rising Success

Anyone who had doubts about her then will certainly be feeling foolish currently. In what she labels a “incredibly circular” development, she seems to have created her dream vehicle. In 2019 she shared content titled on LA life on social media, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a show about city dwellers balancing advantages of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your client being labeled as being a intoxicated thief, and potentially becoming a unreliable pariah). One might tempting to make a program about digital influence that was horribly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at the characters. I Love LA does neither, making for a depiction of affluent young adult life that’s frank about the grot 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 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

Cynthia Ward
Cynthia Ward

Construction technology analyst and content strategist with over a decade of experience.