The performer appears on the video call and immediately launches into an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, sounding truly apologetic. Despite being only a couple of minutes behind, she wants to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, in this context, that’s exactly what you want to experience. Moreover, it’s pretty predictable. Anyone who have seen the unapologetically openly gay and outspoken project titled Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and starred in with her friend the talented actress—can be aware that Sennott holds much to say, be it on gender, sex, or the appeal of starting a youth brawl society. And, once you finish her latest multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star has additional perspectives about the challenges of Gen Z life (As a millennial, Sennott is a relatable figure to younger audiences, on the cusp adept for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and the actress is enthusiastic, naming it together with the classic series, Insecure and the innovative program as influences for I Love LA, which details the travails of a social media star Tallulah and her friend and aspiring agent portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the most significant influence on concept went to the HBO series, that program about an up-and-coming A-list actor succeeding in a gritty LA scene (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She discovered it during lockdown, became “hooked”, and resolved to put her own twist 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 inspiration for I Love LA came—partly—from her own, originally rocky, move to LA and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed occurrence for followers. It was a time that involved her learn major truths, work-wise and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Brought up in the East Coast, Sennott commenced writing and performing comedy while pursuing theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She took matters into her own hands, appearing at open mics with Edebiri and sharing uproarious (and very) bizarre online content on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed several females obsessively obsessed with pregnancy; a different one portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being trapped in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Seligman through campus film circles and ended up appearing in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a religious event with shades of the intense thriller. The central motif of her journey, she explains, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, instead of established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, continuing with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who were skeptical about Sennott earlier will likely be kicking themselves now. In what she labels a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she has manifested the perfect project. In 2019 she posted a clip named about Los Angeles on social media, in which she lampooned film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a show about Angelenos balancing benefits of online celebrity (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being labeled as being a intoxicated thief, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). One might easy to produce a show about online fame that was extremely aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at those depicted. I Love LA steers clear of each, making for a portrait of advantaged young adult life that’s frank about the grot and the appeal.
Balanced Perspective
“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
