The star enters the video call and at once launches into an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, sounding really remorseful. Although she's only slightly behind, she wants to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, during an interview, this is precisely what you want to hear. Moreover, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone familiar with the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass film titled Bottoms—that she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and appeared in with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will understand that Sennott possesses plenty to discuss, whether about identity, relationships, or the pros of starting a high-school combat group. And, after watching the latest seasonal show titled I Love LA, it is clear that she carries even more perspectives on the struggles of modern youth (Now in her thirties, she represents an honorary member to younger audiences, on the cusp skilled for bridging both generations).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, referencing the show together with Sex and the City, Insecure and the innovative program as influences for her series, which tracks the struggles of a social media star Tallulah and close companion and aspiring talent manager Maia. Notably, the most significant influence on the moodboard was reserved for the popular sitcom, the program about an emerging Hollywood star making his way in an often-seedy Hollywood (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She began viewing it amid the pandemic, became “hooked”, and chose to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The concept for this project originated—in part—from firsthand, at first difficult, relocation to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a popular occurrence for followers. It was an era that involved her grasp significant life lessons, professionally and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Early Beginnings
Raised in Connecticut, Sennott began creating and acting comedy 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 explains. “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 took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at amateur nights with her friend and uploading hysterical (and distinctly) bizarre online content online. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted a group of women fetishistically fixated on having babies; another imagined being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being trapped in a scary movie. By chance, she connected with Emma through campus film circles and ultimately featuring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a Jewish wake with hints of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her career, she explains, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, as opposed to established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, stating humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Anyone who were skeptical about her then will certainly be regretting it today. As part of she labels a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she seems to have achieved the perfect project. A few years back she uploaded a video titled “it’s LA” online, in which she parodied movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a show about Angelenos managing advantages of digital stardom (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being suspected of being a drug-addled criminal, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). Some could simple to make a series about online fame that was extremely aspirational—or, worse, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA steers clear of each, resulting in a portrait of affluent young adult existence that’s honest 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 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
