The performer joins the video call and right away starts an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, seeming really regretful. Although she's only a couple of minutes behind, she needs to explain. “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!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s precisely what one hopes to encounter. Additionally, it’s pretty unsurprising. Anyone who know her fearlessly queer and outspoken project Bottoms—that she penned with the director and featured in together with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that she possesses a lot to discuss, whether on identity, intimacy, or the pros of starting a teen brawl society. Plus, once you finish her new eight-part show titled I Love LA, viewers realize that the star holds additional insights on the challenges of Gen Z life (As a millennial, Sennott represents a relatable figure of the gang, straddling eras adept for bridging both generations).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and the actress admits to being an admirer, naming the show in addition to the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as influences for I Love LA, which tracks the journey of an influencer Tallulah and ally who is also fledgling agent Maia. Notably, the most significant presence on concept was reserved for Entourage, that program focusing on an up-and-coming A-list actor making his way in a gritty entertainment industry (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it during the pandemic, became “captivated”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she explains. The inspiration for I Love LA emerged—partly—from personal, initially rocky, move to Tinseltown and from her saturn return, a much-talked-about phenomenon for enthusiasts. That period marked a time that involved her grasp significant life lessons, professionally and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Humble Origins
Growing up in Connecticut, the star began creating and acting humor while pursuing theatre at a prestigious arts school. “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. 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 took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at live shows with Ayo and sharing hysterical (and distinctly) unconventional comedy videos online. One, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters intensely fixated on motherhood; a different one envisioned being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being stuck in a thriller. By chance, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and ultimately featuring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the intense thriller. The central motif of her journey, she explains, has been peers giving her a shot, instead of traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she confirms, adding amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who were skeptical about Sennott then will likely be regretting it currently. In what she calls a “wild, full-circle” story, she seems to have achieved the perfect project. Previously she uploaded a video titled on LA life online, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about city dwellers balancing benefits of internet fame (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being suspected of being a drug-addled criminal, and potentially becoming a risky persona non grata). It would be easy to make a program about digital influence that was overly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that belittled at the characters. The series does neither, making for a portrait of advantaged twentysomething existence that’s candid about the mess and the shine.
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 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
