The star joins the online meeting and at once starts an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, sounding really remorseful. Despite being only a bit late, she wants to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, for a writer, that’s just what is ideal to encounter. Moreover, it’s fairly unsurprising. Those who know the unapologetically openly gay and unapologetically crass movie titled Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with Emma Seligman and appeared in alongside collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will already know that Sennott possesses a lot to share, be it about gender, sex, or the merits of creating a youth fight club. Plus, by the end the new seasonal show I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries further perspectives on the darker side of Gen Z life (At 30, she represents an honorary member to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial with a knack for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and the actress readily acknowledges an admirer, referencing it together with the HBO hit, Insecure and the innovative program as influences for I Love LA, which tracks the journey of an influencer Tallulah and close companion and aspiring talent manager portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the largest presence on concept went to Entourage, that program about an emerging A-list actor succeeding in an often-seedy LA scene (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She discovered it amid the pandemic, became “hooked”, and chose to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she notes. The idea for I Love LA emerged—to some extent—from her own, initially rocky, relocation to Tinseltown and from the saturn return, a popular event for enthusiasts. It was a phase that saw her grasp significant truths, work-wise and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” 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…”
Starting Out
Growing up in Connecticut, Sennott commenced creating and acting stand-up while pursuing theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She took matters into her own hands, performing at open mics with Edebiri and sharing hysterical (and distinctly) weird online content digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on several females intensely obsessed with motherhood; another envisioned being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being stuck in a thriller. By chance, she encountered Emma through NYU’s movie community and eventually featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her path, she notes, has been peers giving her a shot, rather than traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, continuing amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who questioned about Sennott then will certainly be feeling foolish currently. In what she describes as a “astonishingly complete” development, she has manifested the perfect project. Previously she uploaded content called “it’s LA” on social media, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a show about city dwellers juggling the perks of digital stardom (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your client being accused of being a substance-abusing stealer, and perhaps becoming a risky persona non grata). One might tempting to produce a series about digital influence that was overly idealized—or, more problematic, one that belittled at its subjects. This show avoids both, creating a depiction of privileged twentysomething life that’s candid about the grot and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
