The star appears on the video call and at once launches into an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, seeming truly remorseful. Despite being only a couple of minutes late, she wants to explain. “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 exactly what one hopes to experience. Moreover, it’s pretty unsurprising. Viewers who have seen the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and brash movie Bottoms—which Sennott penned with Emma Seligman and starred in together with her friend Ayo Edebiri—can be aware that Sennott has plenty to say, ranging from about gender, relationships, or the appeal of forming a youth combat group. Plus, by the end the latest eight-part program titled I Love LA, it is clear that she holds additional insights about the darker side of modern youth (As a millennial, she serves as an honorary member of the gang, a tale-end millennial skilled for straddling different age groups).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott is an admirer, citing it in addition to the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as guides for I Love LA, which tracks the travails of a social media star Tallulah and her friend who is also new talent manager portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the largest spot on the moodboard went to the HBO series, the show depicting an emerging celebrity succeeding in an often-seedy entertainment industry (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She began viewing it throughout lockdown, became “obsessed”, and decided to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The idea for I Love LA came—to some extent—from her own, originally rocky, move to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a frequently discussed phenomenon for enthusiasts. That period marked an era that saw her learn some big life lessons, professionally and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Humble Origins
Brought up in New England, the star commenced writing and performing comedy while enrolled in theatre at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott seized control, performing at amateur nights with Ayo and sharing hilarious (and decidedly) weird online content digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted a group of women obsessively fixated on having babies; a different one envisioned working at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being caught in a horror film. By chance, she met Emma through campus film circles and eventually featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the intense thriller. The central motif of her career, she explains, has been contemporaries supporting her, rather than traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, continuing with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who were skeptical regarding her previously will certainly be feeling foolish today. In what she calls a “incredibly circular” story, she seems to have manifested an ideal role. In 2019 she uploaded a clip called “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she parodied movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a series about LA residents balancing the perks of internet fame (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your client being accused of being a drug-addled thief, and possibly becoming a unreliable pariah). It would be tempting to produce a program about internet celebrity that was extremely glamorous—or, worse, one that mocked at its subjects. This show does neither, resulting in a representation of advantaged young adult existence that’s candid about the chaos and the shine.
Empathetic Approach
“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
