The star joins the video call and at once launches into an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, appearing truly remorseful. Although she's only a bit late, she feels compelled to explain. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Fortunately, during an interview, that’s precisely what one hopes to experience. Besides, it’s pretty unsurprising. Those familiar with her unapologetically openly gay and brash project Bottoms—that she collaborated on with the director and starred in together with close companion Ayo Edebiri—would understand that Sennott holds plenty to say, whether about identity, relationships, or the pros of forming a teen combat group. Plus, by the end the latest eight-part show I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries additional perspectives on the darker side of modern youth (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as a bridge to younger audiences, straddling eras with a knack for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Creative Vision
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, naming the show alongside Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as influences for I Love LA, which details the journey of online personality Tallulah and ally who is also fledgling representative Sennott’s character. Notably, the most significant presence on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, that program focusing on an up-and-coming Hollywood star succeeding in a gritty LA scene (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott started watching it amid lockdown, became “obsessed”, and decided to add a fresh perspective 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 says. The inspiration for I Love LA came—to some extent—from firsthand, at first difficult, transition to LA and from her saturn return, a frequently discussed phenomenon for followers. That period marked a phase that involved her grasp some big 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 was almost like these biblical tests …”
Starting Out
Brought up in the East Coast, the star commenced writing and performing humor 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. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott decided to act independently, taking the stage at amateur nights with her friend and posting hysterical (and decidedly) unconventional online content online. One, titled Baby Cult, followed characters intensely drawn to having babies; another envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being caught in a horror film. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through the university’s film scene and ended up featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a religious event with hints of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her career, she says, has been contemporaries supporting her, instead of traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she confirms, adding with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who had doubts regarding her previously will likely be feeling foolish now. In what she calls a “astonishingly complete” development, she has created an ideal role. A few years back she shared a video titled about Los Angeles online, in which she parodied movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a show about Angelenos managing benefits of internet fame (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being suspected of being a drug-addled criminal, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). Some could simple to produce a series about internet celebrity that was overly idealized—or, worse, one that mocked at those depicted. The series avoids both, making for a portrait of advantaged twentysomething existence that’s honest about the grot and the appeal.
Empathetic Approach
“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
