The performer enters the digital interview and right away launches into an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, seeming really remorseful. Despite being only slightly behind, she feels compelled to explain. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s just what one hopes to experience. Besides, it’s quite predictable. Viewers who have seen her boldly queer and brash film Bottoms—that she penned with the director and starred in together with close companion the talented actress—will be aware that Sennott has a lot to share, whether on identity, relationships, or the merits of creating a teen fight club. Plus, by the end her new eight-part show I Love LA, viewers realize that the star has further perspectives on the darker side of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott represents a bridge for this generation, a tale-end millennial skilled for straddling different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and the actress admits to being an admirer, naming the show in addition to Sex and the City, Insecure and Atlanta as influences for her series, which details the struggles of online personality Tallulah and ally and new talent manager portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the biggest spot on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, the show depicting a rising A-list actor navigating in a corrupt Hollywood (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it throughout COVID-19, became “hooked”, and decided to create a new version on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she says. The idea for the series emerged—to some extent—from personal, originally rocky, transition to Tinseltown and from her saturn return, a frequently discussed event for astrology heads. This represented a time that included her learn some big truths, professionally and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Raised in Connecticut, the star began creating and acting comedy while pursuing acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “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.”
She took matters into her own hands, appearing at amateur nights with Ayo and sharing hysterical (and distinctly) unconventional online content online. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted a group of women fetishistically obsessed with having babies; a different one portrayed working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being trapped in a scary movie. By chance, she met Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ended up featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her path, she notes, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she repeats, adding amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who had doubts regarding Sennott earlier will surely be feeling foolish currently. As part of she describes as a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she seems to have created an ideal role. Previously she shared a video called about Los Angeles on social media, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a show about city dwellers managing benefits of online celebrity (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your friend being suspected of being a intoxicated stealer, and possibly becoming a risky pariah). It would be simple to create a show about digital influence that was extremely idealized—or, worse, one that punched down at the characters. I Love LA steers clear of each, resulting in a depiction of advantaged twentysomething life that’s frank about the mess 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
