The star appears on the online meeting and at once starts an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, seeming genuinely regretful. Although she's only a bit behind, she wants to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Fortunately, during an interview, this is precisely what is ideal to experience. Additionally, it’s fairly expected. Those who have seen her fearlessly queer and brash project titled Bottoms—which Sennott penned with Emma Seligman and featured in alongside collaborator The Bear’s standout—will already know that she holds plenty to discuss, be it on roles, sex, or the merits of starting a teen fight club. Plus, by the end the recent eight-part show I Love LA, viewers realize that she holds even more thoughts regarding the challenges of modern youth (As a millennial, Sennott represents an honorary member for this generation, a tale-end millennial with a knack for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is enthusiastic, citing the show together with the classic series, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for the project, which follows the travails of an influencer Tallulah and her friend who is also aspiring agent Maia. Perhaps, the most significant influence on concept belonged to Entourage, the program focusing on an emerging Hollywood star succeeding in a corrupt Hollywood (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott started watching it amid the pandemic, became “captivated”, and decided to add a fresh perspective on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The concept for I Love LA originated—in part—from firsthand, originally rocky, relocation to LA and from the cosmic event, a popular event for enthusiasts. That period marked a phase that involved her understand major truths, in her career and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” 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 Connecticut, the star began writing and performing humor while studying acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She seized control, performing at amateur nights with Ayo and sharing hysterical (and decidedly) weird skits online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters fetishistically obsessed with having babies; a different one envisioned being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being caught in a horror film. Interestingly, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and eventually featuring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a religious event with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, instead of established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, adding humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who had doubts about her earlier will surely be regretting it now. Through she labels a “wild, full-circle” development, she appears to created an ideal role. Previously she posted content called “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a show about Angelenos juggling the perks of internet fame (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a substance-abusing stealer, and perhaps becoming a risky outcast). One might tempting to make a show about internet celebrity that was horribly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at the characters. The series avoids both, resulting in a portrait of advantaged millennial living that’s honest about the chaos and the shine.
Empathetic Approach
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
