The performer appears on the digital interview and immediately starts an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, seeming genuinely remorseful. Despite being only a bit delayed, she wants to explain. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, for a writer, this is precisely what you want to experience. Moreover, it’s fairly predictable. Those who know her unapologetically queer and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and appeared in with her friend Ayo Edebiri—can be aware that she possesses much to share, whether on gender, relationships, or the pros of starting a teen combat group. And, by the end the recent multi-episode show titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds additional perspectives on the darker side of modern youth (At 30, she represents a bridge to younger audiences, on the cusp adept for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott is enthusiastic, referencing it alongside the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for her series, which details the struggles of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and aspiring agent Sennott’s character. However, the biggest presence on the moodboard went to Entourage, the HBO sitcom focusing on an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in a gritty Hollywood (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott began viewing it throughout 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 concept for I Love LA came—partly—from her own, at first fractious, move to Los Angeles and from the cosmic event, a frequently discussed event for followers. It was a time that included her understand significant insights, work-wise and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “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…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in the East Coast, Sennott began developing and showcasing comedy while studying performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She decided to act independently, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and posting uproarious (and decidedly) weird comedy videos digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed characters fetishistically fixated on having babies; another envisioned being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being stuck in a scary movie. Interestingly, she encountered Emma through the university’s film scene and eventually starring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a religious event with hints of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been people her own age giving her a shot, instead of established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, continuing amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who had doubts regarding Sennott previously will likely be feeling foolish currently. As part of she calls a “incredibly circular” story, she seems to have created her dream vehicle. A few years back she shared a clip called “it’s LA” on social media, in which she lampooned movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about LA residents balancing the perks of digital stardom (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a intoxicated stealer, and potentially becoming a risky persona non grata). Some could easy to produce a series about digital influence that was horribly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at those depicted. I Love LA avoids both, making for a depiction of advantaged millennial living that’s frank about the chaos and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” she says. “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
