The performer enters the video call and immediately starts an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, appearing truly apologetic. Although she's only slightly behind, she needs to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, for a writer, this is exactly what you want to experience. Additionally, it’s fairly unsurprising. Anyone familiar with the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and starred in together with close companion Ayo Edebiri—will already know that Sennott has much to discuss, be it about gender, sex, or the pros of creating a high-school fight club. Furthermore, by the end the new eight-part HBO series I Love LA, viewers realize that the star holds even more perspectives on the darker side of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott serves as an honorary member of the gang, on the cusp skilled for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and the actress readily acknowledges enthusiastic, naming it alongside the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as guides for I Love LA, which details the journey of an influencer Tallulah and close companion and aspiring agent Maia. Notably, the biggest influence on concept belonged to Entourage, that program about an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in a gritty Hollywood (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it throughout the pandemic, became “captivated”, and resolved to put her own twist on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she says. The inspiration for this project emerged—to some extent—from her own, at first fractious, transition to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about event for astrology heads. That period marked an era that involved her grasp major life lessons, in her career and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Early Beginnings
Brought up in the East Coast, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing comedy while enrolled in theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” 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?”
Sennott seized control, appearing at live shows with Edebiri and uploading hysterical (and very) weird skits online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters fetishistically drawn to having babies; another imagined being employed at the brand Hollister as like being caught in a thriller. By chance, she met Seligman through NYU’s movie community and eventually starring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a religious event with hints of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she explains, has been peers offering opportunities, rather than established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, continuing humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who had doubts regarding Sennott previously will surely be kicking themselves currently. In what she calls a “wild, full-circle” story, she has achieved her dream vehicle. A few years back she shared a video called on LA life on social media, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a series about Angelenos balancing benefits of online celebrity (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being suspected of being a substance-abusing thief, and perhaps becoming a unreliable persona non grata). One might simple to make a series about digital influence that was horribly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that belittled at its subjects. I Love LA steers clear of each, creating a portrait of affluent young adult life that’s honest about the grot and the shine.
Empathetic Approach
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” she observes. “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
