The star appears on the video call and at once starts an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, appearing truly apologetic. Despite being only a couple of minutes late, she wants to justify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s precisely what you want to encounter. Additionally, it’s pretty unsurprising. Anyone who have seen the unapologetically openly gay and unapologetically crass film titled Bottoms—that she collaborated on with her creative partner and starred in with her friend the talented actress—can already know that Sennott holds plenty to say, ranging from on identity, intimacy, or the merits of creating a youth brawl society. And, by the end the new eight-part HBO series titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has even more perspectives about the challenges of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as a relatable figure to younger audiences, on the cusp skilled for bridging different age groups).
Influences and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being enthusiastic, naming the show alongside the HBO hit, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as influences for I Love LA, which details the struggles of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and new agent Maia. Notably, the largest influence on the moodboard went to Entourage, that program about an up-and-coming A-list actor making his way in a gritty entertainment industry (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it during lockdown, became “hooked”, and resolved to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she explains. The inspiration for this project originated—to some extent—from her own, at first rocky, transition to Tinseltown and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed event for followers. This represented a time that saw her learn some big life lessons, professionally and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Early Beginnings
Brought up in Connecticut, the star started writing and performing humor while studying performance 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 decided to act independently, appearing at open mics with Edebiri and uploading hilarious (and very) weird comedy videos digitally. One, Baby Cult, followed characters fetishistically fixated on having babies; a different one portrayed working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being caught in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Seligman through campus film circles and ended up starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a religious event with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her career, she says, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, rather than established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, adding amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who were skeptical about her previously will likely be kicking themselves today. As part of she calls a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she has achieved the perfect project. In 2019 she posted content titled on LA life on social media, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a comedy about city dwellers managing advantages of internet fame (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being suspected of being a drug-addled criminal, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). It would be tempting to produce a series about digital influence that was overly aspirational—or, worse, one that belittled at its subjects. This show steers clear of each, resulting in a depiction of advantaged millennial life that’s candid about the chaos and the shine.
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 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
