The star enters the video call and right away starts an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, sounding genuinely regretful. Despite being only a couple of minutes late, she needs to explain. “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 just what you want to encounter. Besides, it’s fairly expected. Viewers who know the unapologetically openly gay and brash project titled Bottoms—which she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and starred in with her friend Ayo Edebiri—can already know that she holds much to discuss, whether about roles, intimacy, or the merits of creating a teen brawl society. And, after watching the new multi-episode show I Love LA, it is clear that she carries further perspectives regarding the darker side of modern youth (At 30, Sennott serves as a relatable figure to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial adept for bridging different age groups).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and Sennott readily acknowledges enthusiastic, naming the show alongside the classic series, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as influences for I Love LA, which details the journey of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and fledgling talent manager Sennott’s character. Notably, the most significant presence on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, the show focusing on a rising Hollywood star succeeding in a corrupt Hollywood (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She started watching it amid COVID-19, became “captivated”, and chose to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The inspiration for the series emerged—to some extent—from personal, at first rocky, transition to LA and from the saturn return, a much-talked-about occurrence for followers. It was an era that saw her grasp major life lessons, work-wise and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “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
Brought up in the East Coast, Sennott began creating and acting comedy while pursuing acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “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. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She seized control, taking the stage at live shows with Ayo and sharing uproarious (and decidedly) unconventional skits digitally. One, Baby Cult, centered on characters obsessively obsessed with motherhood; another imagined being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being caught in a thriller. Interestingly, she met Emma through campus film circles and eventually appearing in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a religious event with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her career, she notes, has been contemporaries supporting her, rather than traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, stating amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who questioned regarding Sennott then will likely be kicking themselves today. Through she calls a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she appears to created her dream vehicle. In 2019 she posted a video titled about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a show about LA residents managing benefits of internet fame (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your client being labeled as being a intoxicated criminal, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). One might simple to make a series about digital influence that was extremely aspirational—or, worse, one that punched down at the characters. This show steers clear of each, making for a representation of affluent twentysomething life that’s honest about the chaos and the glamour.
Balanced Perspective
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
