The performer enters the online meeting and immediately starts an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, seeming truly apologetic. She is only a couple of minutes behind, she feels compelled to clarify. “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 just what one hopes to hear. Moreover, it’s pretty expected. Viewers who have seen her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and outspoken project Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with the director and appeared in alongside collaborator The Bear’s standout—will already know that Sennott holds plenty to share, whether on gender, relationships, or the appeal of starting a high-school fight club. Furthermore, after watching the new multi-episode show I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star carries additional insights about the darker side of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott represents a relatable figure for this generation, on the cusp adept for straddling both generations).
Influences and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is enthusiastic, naming it alongside the HBO hit, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for I Love LA, which follows the journey of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and aspiring agent Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the most significant spot on concept went to Entourage, the show about an emerging celebrity navigating in a gritty LA scene (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott discovered it throughout lockdown, became “obsessed”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she explains. The inspiration for this project came—in part—from firsthand, originally rocky, relocation to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about event for enthusiasts. This represented a time that involved her grasp some big insights, professionally and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Raised in the East Coast, Sennott began writing and performing comedy while studying performance at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She took matters into her own hands, performing at open mics with her friend and uploading uproarious (and distinctly) weird skits on the internet. One, Baby Cult, depicted several females fetishistically obsessed with pregnancy; a different one portrayed being employed at a trendy retail outlet as like being stuck in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Emma through NYU’s movie community and eventually appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her journey, she says, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, instead of the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, stating amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Individuals who questioned about Sennott previously will likely be regretting it now. In what she describes as a “wild, full-circle” development, she seems to have created the perfect project. A few years back she posted content called about Los Angeles online, in which she lampooned film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a series about Angelenos juggling benefits of digital stardom (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your client being suspected of being a intoxicated stealer, and possibly becoming a unreliable persona non grata). Some could tempting to produce a program about online fame that was overly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at the characters. The series avoids both, making for a representation of privileged millennial life that’s frank about the chaos and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
