The star appears on the online meeting and right away launches into an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, appearing really regretful. Although she's only a couple of minutes late, she wants to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s exactly what you want to experience. Moreover, it’s fairly predictable. Those who have seen her boldly openly gay and outspoken movie Bottoms—which she collaborated on with the director and appeared in with close companion Ayo Edebiri—will already know that she possesses much to share, whether on gender, relationships, or the appeal of starting a teen brawl society. And, once you finish her recent multi-episode HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star has further perspectives regarding the struggles of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, she serves as a relatable figure of the gang, a tale-end millennial with a knack for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, referencing the show together with the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as guides for her series, which tracks the travails of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and new representative portrayed by Sennott. However, the largest presence on creative vision belonged to Entourage, the program depicting an up-and-coming A-list actor succeeding in a corrupt entertainment industry (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it amid COVID-19, became “captivated”, and decided to create a new version on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The concept for I Love LA emerged—to some extent—from personal, at first difficult, relocation to LA and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed event for enthusiasts. This represented a time that saw her grasp significant life lessons, in her career and individually. “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…”
Brought up in Connecticut, the star started writing and performing comedy while pursuing theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” 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. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at open mics with Edebiri and uploading hysterical (and distinctly) bizarre online content online. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted several females fetishistically obsessed with pregnancy; another portrayed being employed at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being caught in a thriller. Interestingly, she met Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately starring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a religious event with hints of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her career, she notes, has been people her own age giving her a shot, rather than traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, stating with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Anyone who questioned regarding her previously will likely be regretting it today. Through she calls a “astonishingly complete” story, she appears to manifested her dream vehicle. A few years back she shared a video called “it’s LA” online, in which she mocked movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a show about city dwellers managing advantages of digital stardom (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your friend being accused of being a drug-addled criminal, and potentially becoming a unreliable persona non grata). One might simple to make a series about internet celebrity that was overly idealized—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at those depicted. The series steers clear of each, resulting in a portrait of affluent young adult living that’s candid about the grot and the glamour.
“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
Eva de Vries is a passionate book lover and local writer from Eindhoven.
