The star enters the online meeting and immediately starts an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, sounding genuinely regretful. Although she's only a couple of minutes behind, she wants to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, in this context, this is exactly what one hopes to experience. Moreover, it’s pretty unsurprising. Those who know her boldly queer and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—that she co-wrote with the director and featured in alongside her friend The Bear’s standout—can already know that she possesses much to discuss, be it about roles, relationships, or the merits of forming a youth fight club. Plus, after watching the latest multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that she holds further perspectives regarding the challenges of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, Sennott represents an honorary member to younger audiences, on the cusp skilled for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Creative Vision
Parallels to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott is enthusiastic, naming the show in addition to Sex and the City, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as influences for her series, which follows the struggles of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and new agent portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the largest influence on creative vision belonged to the HBO series, the program focusing on an up-and-coming Hollywood star succeeding in a gritty Hollywood (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She started watching it during the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and resolved to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she explains. The inspiration for I Love LA emerged—in part—from her own, initially rocky, relocation to Los Angeles and from the astrological phase, a much-talked-about occurrence for astrology heads. That period marked an era that included her grasp significant life lessons, professionally and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Starting Out
Growing up in New England, the star started writing and performing humor while studying acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at open mics with her friend and uploading hysterical (and decidedly) unconventional skits online. One, titled Baby Cult, centered on a group of women fetishistically obsessed with pregnancy; another envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as like being stuck in a scary movie. Interestingly, she met Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately featuring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a funeral gathering with shades of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her path, she notes, has been people her own age offering opportunities, as opposed to the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she repeats, stating humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who had doubts about her previously will likely be feeling foolish today. In what she describes as a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she seems to have created the perfect project. A few years back she shared content called about Los Angeles on social media, in which she lampooned film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a comedy about Angelenos balancing the perks of digital stardom (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your friend being accused of being a substance-abusing stealer, and perhaps becoming a unreliable outcast). It would be simple to produce a program about online fame that was extremely aspirational—or, more problematic, one that belittled at those depicted. I Love LA avoids both, creating a depiction of privileged millennial life that’s candid about the chaos and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
