The star appears on the digital interview and at once starts an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, seeming really regretful. Despite being only a bit delayed, she needs to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, in this context, this is precisely what one hopes to encounter. Moreover, it’s fairly expected. Viewers familiar with the fearlessly queer and brash movie titled Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with the director and starred in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—would already know that she possesses a lot to say, whether about identity, sex, or the merits of forming a teen fight club. Furthermore, by the end the latest seasonal show I Love LA, viewers realize that she holds even more thoughts about the darker side of modern youth (As a millennial, Sennott is an honorary member to younger audiences, on the cusp with a knack for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being an admirer, citing it in addition to Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as guides for her series, which details the journey of online personality Tallulah and her friend and aspiring representative Sennott’s character. Notably, the biggest spot on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, that show depicting a rising celebrity succeeding in a corrupt Hollywood (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott began viewing it during lockdown, became “hooked”, and decided to create a new version 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 notes. The idea for I Love LA originated—partly—from personal, initially rocky, relocation to LA and from the saturn return, a popular phenomenon for enthusiasts. This represented a time that saw her understand major insights, professionally and in private life. “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 resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Humble Origins
Raised in Connecticut, Sennott commenced writing and performing stand-up while enrolled in performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at amateur nights with Edebiri and uploading hilarious (and very) bizarre comedy videos online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on several females intensely obsessed with motherhood; a different one portrayed being employed at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being caught in a horror film. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through NYU’s movie community and eventually appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a religious event with hints of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her journey, she says, has been peers giving her a shot, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, stating amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who had doubts about Sennott previously will certainly be regretting it now. In what she labels a “incredibly circular” development, she seems to have created her dream vehicle. Previously she uploaded content called on LA life online, in which she mocked film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a show about city dwellers managing the perks of digital stardom (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your associate being accused of being a substance-abusing criminal, and perhaps becoming a risky pariah). Some could simple to create a series about online fame that was extremely aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at the characters. This show steers clear of each, resulting in a depiction of privileged young adult life that’s honest about the mess 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
