The performer appears on the video call and immediately begins an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, seeming really apologetic. Although she's only a bit late, she feels compelled to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, in this context, this is just what you want to encounter. Moreover, it’s quite expected. Anyone familiar with the boldly LGBTQ+ and brash movie Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with Emma Seligman and appeared in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—would already know that Sennott possesses plenty to share, be it on roles, relationships, or the pros of starting a high-school combat group. And, by the end her new seasonal HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that she carries additional insights about the struggles of modern youth (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as an honorary member of the gang, straddling eras skilled for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and the actress is enthusiastic, naming it together with the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as guides for her series, which tracks the journey of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and fledgling talent manager Maia. Notably, the biggest presence on concept went to Entourage, the show depicting an emerging Hollywood star succeeding in an often-seedy entertainment industry (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott discovered it throughout the pandemic, became “hooked”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective 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 idea for I Love LA emerged—partly—from firsthand, originally fractious, transition to Tinseltown and from the cosmic event, a much-talked-about phenomenon for astrology heads. It was a time that included her learn major truths, work-wise and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Humble Origins
Growing up in New England, Sennott started creating and acting comedy while pursuing acting at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” 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. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at amateur nights with Edebiri and posting hysterical (and decidedly) weird skits digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women obsessively drawn to pregnancy; a different one portrayed working at the brand Hollister as akin to being caught in a scary movie. By chance, she met Seligman through the university’s film scene and ended up appearing in her first film, Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the intense thriller. The big theme of her path, she says, has been peers offering opportunities, rather than the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, stating with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Rising Success
Anyone who had doubts regarding her previously will certainly be regretting it today. As part of she labels a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she appears to manifested her dream vehicle. Previously she shared a clip titled on LA life online, in which she lampooned film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a show about Angelenos managing the perks of digital stardom (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being labeled as being a substance-abusing criminal, and perhaps becoming a unreliable pariah). One might simple to produce a show about digital influence that was overly glamorous—or, worse, one that mocked at those depicted. The series avoids both, creating a representation of privileged millennial life that’s honest about the chaos 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 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
