The performer joins the video call and immediately starts an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, appearing truly regretful. Although she's only a couple of minutes late, she wants to justify. “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!” Thankfully, for a writer, this is precisely what is ideal to experience. Additionally, it’s pretty unsurprising. Viewers who know her boldly queer and outspoken movie Bottoms—which she penned with her creative partner and starred in with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—can be aware that Sennott possesses a lot to say, ranging from about identity, intimacy, or the merits of forming a teen combat group. And, after watching her new seasonal show titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries additional thoughts regarding the darker side of young adulthood (At 30, she represents an honorary member of the gang, a tale-end millennial skilled for bridging both generations).
Influences and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is an admirer, citing it together with the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for the project, which tracks the travails of online personality Tallulah and close companion who is also fledgling agent Sennott’s character. Notably, the biggest spot on the moodboard was reserved for Entourage, the HBO sitcom depicting an up-and-coming Hollywood star making his way in an often-seedy Hollywood (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She started watching it throughout the pandemic, became “captivated”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The concept for this project emerged—in part—from personal, initially fractious, transition to Tinseltown and from her astrological phase, a popular occurrence for astrology heads. That period marked a phase that involved her learn significant life lessons, in her career and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Humble Origins
Brought up in the East Coast, the star started writing and performing humor while studying acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at amateur nights with Ayo and uploading hilarious (and very) bizarre comedy videos on the internet. One, Baby Cult, followed a group of women intensely obsessed with motherhood; another envisioned being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being trapped in a thriller. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through campus film circles and ended up starring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a religious event with echoes of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her path, she says, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, rather than established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, continuing with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Those who had doubts regarding her previously will surely be regretting it today. As part of she calls a “incredibly circular” story, she has manifested an ideal role. Previously she posted a clip titled about Los Angeles online, in which she mocked film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a comedy about city dwellers juggling benefits of digital stardom (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being suspected of being a intoxicated stealer, and perhaps becoming a risky pariah). It would be easy to produce a series about internet celebrity that was overly idealized—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at the characters. I Love LA does neither, making for a representation of advantaged millennial life that’s frank about the grot and the shine.
Nuanced Portrayal
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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
