The performer appears on the online meeting and immediately launches into an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, sounding really remorseful. Although she's only a bit delayed, she feels compelled to justify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, in this context, this is just what is ideal to experience. Moreover, it’s fairly unsurprising. Viewers who know the boldly openly gay and brash film Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and featured in together with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—can already know that she holds much to say, ranging from on roles, intimacy, or the appeal of creating a teen brawl society. And, by the end her new seasonal HBO series titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star has even more perspectives regarding the struggles of modern youth (Now in her thirties, she is an honorary member for this generation, straddling eras adept for connecting different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, referencing the show together with the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as inspirations for I Love LA, which details the journey of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and fledgling agent portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the biggest presence on the moodboard was reserved for the popular sitcom, that show focusing on a rising Hollywood star making his way in a corrupt LA scene (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott discovered it throughout COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and decided to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she notes. The concept for this project came—partly—from her own, originally difficult, move to LA and from her cosmic event, a much-talked-about occurrence for astrology heads. It was a phase that saw her grasp major truths, work-wise and individually. “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.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in New England, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing comedy while studying performance at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. 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?”
Sennott seized control, taking the stage at amateur nights with Ayo and posting uproarious (and distinctly) weird skits on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed characters fetishistically drawn to having babies; a different one portrayed working at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being trapped in a scary movie. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through campus film circles and ended up featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a religious event with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her path, she explains, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, rather than the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, adding humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who had doubts regarding her then will likely be regretting it now. As part of she labels a “wild, full-circle” development, she seems to have manifested her dream vehicle. A few years back she posted a clip named on LA life online, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a comedy about city dwellers balancing benefits of online celebrity (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being accused of being a intoxicated thief, and perhaps becoming a risky persona non grata). Some could easy to produce a show about online fame that was horribly glamorous—or, worse, one that belittled at the characters. This show steers clear of each, resulting in a portrait of advantaged young adult life that’s frank about the mess and the appeal.
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 comments. “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
