The performer joins the online meeting and right away begins an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, seeming truly remorseful. Despite being only a couple of minutes behind, she wants to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s precisely what one hopes to hear. Additionally, it’s fairly expected. Those who have seen the unapologetically openly gay and unapologetically crass movie Bottoms—which Sennott penned with the director and appeared in alongside collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will understand that she has a lot to discuss, ranging from on roles, sex, or the pros of starting a high-school fight club. Furthermore, once you finish her latest multi-episode program I Love LA, viewers realize that she holds further thoughts regarding the struggles of young adulthood (At 30, she serves as a relatable figure to younger audiences, straddling eras skilled for straddling both generations).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and the actress readily acknowledges enthusiastic, citing the show alongside the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as guides for the project, which follows the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and aspiring agent Maia. However, the biggest influence on the moodboard was reserved for Entourage, that show focusing on a rising Hollywood star navigating in a gritty Hollywood (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott discovered it throughout lockdown, became “captivated”, and chose to put her own twist on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she says. The idea for the series originated—to some extent—from firsthand, originally rocky, relocation to LA and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed occurrence for astrology heads. It was a time that included her learn significant life lessons, work-wise and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “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
Raised in Connecticut, Sennott commenced creating and acting 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 states. “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, taking the stage at amateur nights with Edebiri and sharing hysterical (and decidedly) weird comedy videos online. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed a group of women fetishistically fixated on having babies; a different one portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being caught in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Seligman through the university’s film scene and ended up starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a religious event with shades of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her journey, she says, has been contemporaries supporting her, as opposed to the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, stating with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Anyone who questioned about Sennott earlier will surely be kicking themselves currently. Through she calls a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she seems to have created her dream vehicle. In 2019 she posted a video titled “it’s LA” on social media, in which she mocked film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a show about Angelenos managing advantages of online celebrity (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being suspected of being a drug-addled criminal, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). One might simple to produce a program about internet celebrity that was horribly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that mocked at the characters. I Love LA avoids both, creating a representation of advantaged young adult life that’s candid about the mess and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” she observes. “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
