The performer appears on the online meeting and at once begins an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, sounding genuinely regretful. She is only a couple of minutes delayed, she needs to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s exactly what you want to hear. Besides, it’s pretty unsurprising. Viewers who know the boldly queer and outspoken movie titled Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and starred in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—would understand that Sennott possesses a lot to share, whether on identity, sex, or the pros of starting a high-school combat group. Furthermore, after watching her new multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, viewers realize that the star holds further perspectives regarding the darker side of modern youth (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as an honorary member for this generation, a tale-end millennial with a knack for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress readily acknowledges an admirer, naming it alongside the classic series, Insecure and Atlanta as influences for the project, which follows the travails of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and aspiring talent manager Maia. However, the largest presence on the moodboard went to the popular sitcom, the HBO sitcom depicting a rising celebrity making his way in a corrupt entertainment industry (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott began viewing it during COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and resolved to create a new version 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—in part—from firsthand, originally rocky, transition to Los Angeles and from the cosmic event, a much-talked-about occurrence for followers. This represented a time that involved her learn some big insights, professionally and personally. “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. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Raised in New England, the star started creating and acting stand-up while pursuing performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “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. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott decided to act independently, taking the stage at live shows with her friend and uploading uproarious (and decidedly) bizarre online content online. One, Baby Cult, depicted characters fetishistically fixated on pregnancy; a different one envisioned being employed at the brand Hollister as similar to being caught in a thriller. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through campus film circles and eventually starring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a Jewish wake with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her career, she notes, has been people her own age giving her a shot, rather than traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she confirms, adding humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who had doubts about her then will certainly be regretting it now. Through she calls a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she seems to have created her dream vehicle. In 2019 she shared a clip titled on LA life online, in which she mocked movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a series about city dwellers juggling the perks of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being suspected of being a drug-addled stealer, and possibly becoming a risky outcast). It would be tempting to create a show about internet celebrity that was horribly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at the characters. I Love LA avoids both, making for a depiction of advantaged young adult existence that’s candid about the grot and the appeal.
Empathetic Approach
“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
