The star joins the video call and right away starts an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, appearing truly apologetic. Despite being only a couple of minutes delayed, she wants to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, for a writer, this is precisely what one hopes to encounter. Besides, it’s pretty predictable. Viewers familiar with her fearlessly openly gay and brash project Bottoms—which she collaborated on with the director and appeared in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—can understand that she possesses a lot to say, be it about gender, relationships, or the pros of creating a teen combat group. And, after watching the new multi-episode program I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star has additional perspectives on the struggles of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott is a bridge to younger audiences, straddling eras with a knack for bridging different age groups).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and the actress is a fan, referencing the show alongside the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as guides for I Love LA, which tracks the journey of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also fledgling talent manager Maia. However, the largest spot on concept belonged to the popular sitcom, the HBO sitcom focusing on an emerging A-list actor navigating in a gritty entertainment industry (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott discovered it during lockdown, became “obsessed”, and resolved to create a new version on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she notes. The inspiration for the series originated—in part—from her own, originally difficult, move to Tinseltown and from her astrological phase, a popular phenomenon for followers. That period marked a phase that included her understand major insights, in her career and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Starting Out
Raised in Connecticut, the star began creating and acting stand-up while enrolled in theatre at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “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. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She decided to act independently, performing at open mics with her friend and posting hilarious (and distinctly) weird skits online. One, Baby Cult, depicted a group of women fetishistically obsessed with motherhood; a different one imagined being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being stuck in a scary movie. Interestingly, she encountered Emma through NYU’s movie community and eventually starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, as opposed to traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, continuing with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who were skeptical regarding Sennott previously will likely be feeling foolish today. As part of she labels a “wild, full-circle” story, she has manifested the perfect project. In 2019 she shared a video titled about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a series about Angelenos juggling advantages of internet fame (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being labeled as being a drug-addled stealer, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). Some could tempting to produce a program about internet celebrity that was extremely aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at the characters. The series avoids both, making for a portrait of privileged young adult living that’s frank about the mess and the shine.
Empathetic Approach
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
