The performer joins the digital interview and right away begins an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, seeming truly remorseful. Despite being only slightly late, she wants to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, for a writer, that’s precisely what one hopes to encounter. Additionally, it’s fairly expected. Viewers familiar with her boldly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and featured in alongside close companion Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that Sennott possesses a lot to say, be it on identity, relationships, or the pros of starting a youth brawl society. And, once you finish her latest eight-part show titled I Love LA, viewers realize that the star has further perspectives on the struggles of Gen Z life (As a millennial, Sennott serves as an honorary member for this generation, on the cusp with a knack for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and the actress readily acknowledges an admirer, referencing the show alongside the classic series, Insecure and Atlanta as inspirations for the project, which follows the travails of a social media star Tallulah and her friend who is also new representative Sennott’s character. Notably, the most significant influence on creative vision was reserved for Entourage, the program about an emerging Hollywood star navigating in a gritty entertainment industry (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott discovered it throughout COVID-19, became “hooked”, and decided to add a fresh perspective 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 says. The inspiration for I Love LA emerged—partly—from personal, initially rocky, transition to LA and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about event for astrology heads. That period marked a phase that involved her learn significant life lessons, professionally and individually. “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. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Raised in New England, the star started creating and acting comedy while enrolled in acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “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. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at live shows with Ayo and posting hilarious (and distinctly) bizarre skits digitally. One, Baby Cult, centered on characters fetishistically drawn to having babies; a different one portrayed working at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being stuck in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she met Seligman through the university’s film scene and eventually featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a funeral gathering with echoes of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her journey, she says, has been contemporaries supporting her, rather than traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, stating humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Rising Success
Anyone who had doubts about Sennott earlier will certainly be regretting it currently. Through she labels a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she has manifested her dream vehicle. Previously she uploaded a video called on LA life on the internet, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a series about Angelenos managing benefits of online celebrity (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your client being accused of being a intoxicated thief, and perhaps becoming a risky persona non grata). One might easy to create a program about internet celebrity that was horribly aspirational—or, worse, one that belittled at its subjects. I Love LA steers clear of each, resulting in a portrait of affluent twentysomething life that’s frank about the grot and the shine.
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
