The star appears on the video call and right away starts an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, appearing genuinely remorseful. She is only slightly behind, she needs to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, for a writer, this is precisely what you want to experience. Besides, it’s pretty predictable. Anyone familiar with the boldly LGBTQ+ and brash film Bottoms—which she co-wrote with her creative partner and appeared in together with close companion the talented actress—would be aware that Sennott possesses a lot to discuss, be it on identity, sex, or the pros of creating a teen combat group. And, after watching the latest multi-episode program I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star carries further perspectives about the challenges of young adulthood (As a millennial, she is a relatable figure of the gang, straddling eras adept for straddling different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges an admirer, citing it in addition to the HBO hit, Insecure and Atlanta as inspirations for I Love LA, which details the struggles of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and aspiring agent Maia. However, the biggest influence on creative vision went to Entourage, the program focusing on an emerging Hollywood star succeeding in a corrupt Hollywood (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She discovered it amid COVID-19, became “captivated”, and chose to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The idea for I Love LA came—partly—from personal, at first rocky, move to Los Angeles and from the astrological phase, a much-talked-about event for enthusiasts. It was an era that involved her learn significant insights, work-wise and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in the East Coast, Sennott started writing and performing comedy while studying theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” 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.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and posting hilarious (and very) bizarre online content on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed several females intensely drawn to pregnancy; another portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being caught in a horror film. Interestingly, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and eventually starring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her career, she says, has been peers supporting her, as opposed to traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she confirms, continuing amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who were skeptical regarding her previously will surely be regretting it now. In what she labels a “astonishingly complete” story, she has created the perfect project. Previously she uploaded a video titled about Los Angeles on social media, in which she parodied movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a show about Angelenos juggling benefits of internet fame (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your friend being labeled as being a drug-addled stealer, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). It would be easy to make a show about internet celebrity that was extremely idealized—or, worse, one that punched down at the characters. I Love LA steers clear of each, creating a portrait of affluent millennial living that’s frank about the chaos and the shine.
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
