The star joins the digital interview and immediately launches into an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, seeming truly apologetic. Despite being only a couple of minutes behind, she feels compelled to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, for a writer, this is precisely what one hopes to experience. Besides, it’s fairly predictable. Viewers who know her unapologetically openly gay and outspoken project Bottoms—which Sennott penned with Emma Seligman and appeared in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—can understand that Sennott has plenty to discuss, whether on identity, sex, or the merits of creating a teen combat group. And, by the end her latest seasonal HBO series I Love LA, viewers realize that she holds even more insights about the struggles of young adulthood (As a millennial, she is a bridge of the gang, straddling eras skilled for connecting different age groups).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and the actress is enthusiastic, referencing it in addition to the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as influences for the project, which details the travails of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and aspiring representative Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the biggest influence on creative vision was reserved for Entourage, the HBO sitcom depicting an up-and-coming A-list actor navigating in a corrupt Hollywood (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She started watching it amid lockdown, became “hooked”, and resolved to create a new version on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she explains. The inspiration for the series originated—to some extent—from her own, at first rocky, relocation to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a popular occurrence for astrology heads. That period marked a phase that saw her understand major life lessons, in her career and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “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
Raised in Connecticut, the star commenced creating and acting stand-up while enrolled in theatre at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at open mics with Ayo and sharing hilarious (and very) bizarre online content digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed characters intensely fixated on motherhood; a different one portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being stuck in a thriller. By chance, she met Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her career, she notes, has been contemporaries supporting her, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, adding amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Those who questioned about her previously will likely be kicking themselves currently. As part of she labels a “wild, full-circle” story, she seems to have created the perfect project. In 2019 she posted a clip named “it’s LA” on social media, in which she lampooned film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a comedy about Angelenos balancing advantages of digital stardom (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being accused of being a substance-abusing thief, and potentially becoming a risky pariah). It would be tempting to produce a series about internet celebrity that was overly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that belittled at those depicted. I Love LA does neither, making for a depiction of advantaged millennial living that’s honest about the chaos and the glamour.
Balanced Perspective
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
