The performer appears on the video call and at once launches into an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, seeming genuinely regretful. She is only slightly behind, she feels compelled to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, in this context, this is precisely what you want to encounter. Additionally, it’s pretty unsurprising. Those familiar with her boldly openly gay and brash film Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with the director and featured in together with close companion the talented actress—will already know that she has plenty to share, whether about gender, sex, or the pros of forming a high-school combat group. Furthermore, once you finish the new multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has further perspectives on the challenges of modern youth (As a millennial, she represents a bridge to younger audiences, on the cusp skilled for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and Sennott admits to being an admirer, citing the show in addition to the classic series, Insecure and the innovative program as guides for I Love LA, which tracks the travails of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and fledgling talent manager Maia. Notably, the biggest influence on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, the HBO sitcom focusing on a rising celebrity navigating in a corrupt LA scene (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She began viewing it during lockdown, became “captivated”, and resolved to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The idea for this project emerged—in part—from personal, at first difficult, transition to LA and from her cosmic event, a frequently discussed phenomenon for astrology heads. It was a phase that saw her understand significant truths, professionally and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Humble Origins
Brought up in Connecticut, the star commenced writing and performing stand-up while pursuing 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 decided to act independently, taking the stage at open mics with Ayo and posting uproarious (and very) weird skits digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed several females obsessively fixated on motherhood; a different one portrayed working at the brand Hollister as similar to being caught in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a religious event with echoes of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her path, she explains, has been peers giving her a shot, rather than established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, continuing with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Those who questioned regarding her then will surely be kicking themselves now. As part of she labels a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she has created an ideal role. A few years back she posted a clip titled about Los Angeles online, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a comedy about LA residents managing advantages of online celebrity (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being accused of being a intoxicated thief, and possibly becoming a risky persona non grata). It would be tempting to make a show about online fame that was horribly idealized—or, worse, one that mocked at its subjects. I Love LA avoids both, creating a representation of privileged twentysomething living that’s candid about the grot and the glamour.
Balanced Perspective
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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
