The performer enters the online meeting and at once begins an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, sounding genuinely remorseful. She is only slightly delayed, she feels compelled to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, in this context, that’s precisely what you want to encounter. Moreover, it’s fairly predictable. Those who know the unapologetically openly gay and brash movie titled Bottoms—that she co-wrote with her creative partner and featured in with collaborator the talented actress—will be aware that Sennott has much to discuss, ranging from on gender, sex, or the pros of forming a high-school combat group. Plus, after watching the new eight-part show titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds further perspectives on the challenges of modern youth (At 30, she represents an honorary member of the gang, a tale-end millennial skilled for connecting different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being an admirer, citing it in addition to the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as influences for the project, which follows the journey of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and fledgling representative Sennott’s character. Notably, the most significant presence on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, the show focusing on a rising celebrity navigating in a gritty entertainment industry (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott discovered it amid lockdown, became “obsessed”, and decided 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 says. The inspiration for I Love LA emerged—partly—from personal, originally rocky, move to Tinseltown and from her saturn return, a much-talked-about phenomenon for enthusiasts. That period marked a time that included her grasp major truths, in her career and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Raised in the East Coast, Sennott commenced creating and acting comedy while pursuing acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” 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.”
She decided to act independently, performing at amateur nights with her friend and posting hysterical (and very) bizarre online content digitally. One, Baby Cult, depicted a group of women fetishistically fixated on motherhood; another imagined being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being caught in a horror film. By chance, she connected with Seligman through the university’s film scene and ultimately featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a funeral gathering with shades of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her career, she explains, has been people her own age giving her a shot, instead of traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, adding with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Those who had doubts regarding Sennott earlier will surely be kicking themselves today. Through she labels a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she seems to have created her dream vehicle. In 2019 she posted content called about Los Angeles online, in which she parodied film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a comedy about LA residents juggling the perks of internet fame (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your client being suspected of being a intoxicated thief, and perhaps becoming a unreliable outcast). One might tempting to create a series about internet celebrity that was extremely aspirational—or, more problematic, one that belittled at the characters. The series steers clear of each, making for a portrait of privileged twentysomething existence that’s honest about the mess and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
