The performer enters the digital interview and right away begins an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, seeming genuinely apologetic. Despite being only slightly late, she needs to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, in this context, that’s exactly what one hopes to encounter. Besides, it’s pretty predictable. Viewers familiar with her unapologetically openly gay and outspoken project titled Bottoms—that she co-wrote with her creative partner and featured in alongside her friend The Bear’s standout—would already know that Sennott holds much to discuss, whether about identity, intimacy, or the pros of creating a teen combat group. And, by the end her new multi-episode show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she holds further perspectives about the darker side of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott serves as a relatable figure of the gang, on the cusp with a knack for connecting both generations).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott readily acknowledges a fan, naming it in addition to the HBO hit, Insecure and the innovative program as influences for her series, which tracks the travails of a social media star Tallulah and close companion and aspiring representative portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the biggest spot on creative vision belonged to the HBO series, that show about an emerging Hollywood star succeeding in a corrupt LA scene (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott discovered it during lockdown, became “obsessed”, and decided to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she explains. The inspiration for I Love LA came—in part—from personal, initially fractious, relocation to LA and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed occurrence for astrology heads. This represented a time that saw her understand major truths, professionally and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “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 …”
Humble Origins
Brought up in New England, the star started creating and acting comedy while studying theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” 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. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott decided to act independently, performing at amateur nights with her friend and sharing hilarious (and decidedly) unconventional online content online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women fetishistically obsessed with pregnancy; another imagined being employed at the brand Hollister as like being trapped in a horror film. By chance, she met Seligman through the university’s film scene and eventually featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a religious event with shades of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her path, she notes, has been people her own age offering opportunities, rather than traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she confirms, continuing humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who were skeptical about Sennott then will likely be kicking themselves currently. In what she labels a “astonishingly complete” development, she appears to manifested her dream vehicle. In 2019 she shared a video titled about Los Angeles on social media, in which she mocked film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a show about LA residents balancing advantages of online celebrity (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a substance-abusing stealer, and possibly becoming a unreliable pariah). Some could tempting to make a program about online fame that was overly aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at its subjects. The series steers clear of each, making for a portrait of privileged twentysomething existence that’s frank about the grot and the glamour.
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
