The performer joins the video call and immediately begins an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, sounding really remorseful. Although she's only a couple of minutes behind, she needs to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, during an interview, that’s precisely what you want to encounter. Moreover, it’s quite predictable. Anyone familiar with her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and outspoken movie titled Bottoms—which she co-wrote with her creative partner and appeared in alongside her friend the talented actress—can already know that Sennott holds plenty to discuss, ranging from on identity, intimacy, or the merits of starting a teen fight club. Plus, by the end the latest eight-part show titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries even more perspectives regarding the darker side of modern youth (At 30, Sennott is a bridge for this generation, straddling eras skilled for connecting both generations).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott readily acknowledges an admirer, naming the show alongside the classic series, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for I Love LA, which details the struggles of an influencer Tallulah and her friend who is also new talent manager Sennott’s character. However, the biggest presence on the moodboard belonged to the popular sitcom, that program depicting an emerging A-list actor navigating in a gritty entertainment industry (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott began viewing it during the pandemic, became “hooked”, and resolved to create a new version on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she explains. The idea for I Love LA emerged—in part—from her own, at first fractious, transition to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a frequently discussed occurrence for astrology heads. This represented a time that included her learn some big truths, professionally and individually. “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…”
Humble Origins
Raised in the East Coast, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing comedy while pursuing performance 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 states. “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. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She decided to act independently, appearing at open mics with her friend and uploading uproarious (and decidedly) weird skits on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on a group of women obsessively obsessed with motherhood; another portrayed working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being trapped in a thriller. By chance, she met Seligman through the university’s film scene and eventually starring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her journey, she says, has been peers supporting her, rather than traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she confirms, adding with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Those who questioned about her then will likely be kicking themselves now. As part of she labels a “wild, full-circle” development, she has created an ideal role. Previously she uploaded a video titled on LA life on the internet, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a series about city dwellers balancing the perks of internet fame (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a drug-addled stealer, and potentially becoming a risky outcast). Some could easy to produce a show about digital influence that was horribly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that punched down at the characters. This show avoids both, creating a portrait of advantaged millennial existence that’s frank about the chaos and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
