The performer enters the online meeting and right away begins an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, sounding really regretful. She is only slightly behind, she needs to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, in this context, that’s just what is ideal to experience. Additionally, it’s quite unsurprising. Viewers familiar with the unapologetically openly gay and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—that she penned with the director and appeared in with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that Sennott possesses plenty to say, whether about gender, sex, or the pros of starting a high-school combat group. Plus, once you finish the recent seasonal show I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star holds even more insights regarding the struggles of young adulthood (At 30, she serves as a relatable figure for this generation, straddling eras adept for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is a fan, referencing the show in addition to the HBO hit, Insecure and the innovative program as guides for I Love LA, which details the struggles of an influencer Tallulah and her friend and fledgling representative portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the most significant influence on concept went to Entourage, that program about an up-and-coming A-list actor making his way in a gritty Hollywood (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott started watching it during COVID-19, became “captivated”, and resolved to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she notes. The inspiration for the series emerged—in part—from firsthand, originally fractious, relocation to Tinseltown and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about occurrence for astrology heads. That period marked a phase that saw her understand significant truths, in her career and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Brought up in New England, the star started writing and performing stand-up while studying acting at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “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. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She seized control, appearing at open mics with Edebiri and sharing hilarious (and decidedly) unconventional skits digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed characters obsessively fixated on motherhood; a different one imagined being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being stuck in a thriller. By chance, she met Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up starring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her path, she notes, has been peers giving her a shot, instead of established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she confirms, stating with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Anyone who had doubts about Sennott then will surely be regretting it today. In what she describes as a “incredibly circular” development, she has created the perfect project. In 2019 she posted content titled “it’s LA” on social media, in which she parodied movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a show about city dwellers juggling the perks of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being accused of being a drug-addled thief, and perhaps becoming a risky outcast). One might tempting to create a program about digital influence that was overly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that punched down at the characters. I Love LA steers clear of each, creating a portrait of advantaged millennial life that’s candid about the grot and the appeal.
Balanced Perspective
“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
