The performer joins the online meeting and at once launches into an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, appearing truly remorseful. Despite being only a couple of minutes behind, she needs to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Fortunately, for a writer, this is precisely what you want to experience. Besides, it’s quite expected. Anyone who have seen the fearlessly openly gay and unapologetically crass project Bottoms—that she co-wrote with her creative partner and appeared in together with her friend the talented actress—can understand that she holds a lot to discuss, be it on identity, relationships, or the merits of creating a high-school fight club. And, once you finish the new multi-episode show I Love LA, viewers realize that the star has further thoughts about the darker side of modern youth (As a millennial, she is an honorary member to younger audiences, straddling eras skilled for straddling both generations).
Influences and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott admits to being a fan, naming it together with the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as inspirations for her series, which tracks the struggles of online personality Tallulah and her friend who is also aspiring talent manager portrayed by Sennott. However, the largest spot on concept belonged to the popular sitcom, that show depicting an emerging celebrity making his way in a gritty entertainment industry (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She began viewing it throughout the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and decided 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 says. The concept for I Love LA emerged—in part—from her own, originally difficult, move to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a popular event for enthusiasts. That period marked a time that saw her learn significant insights, work-wise and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “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…”
Humble Origins
Raised in New England, Sennott began creating and acting comedy while enrolled in acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “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?”
She decided to act independently, appearing at amateur nights with her friend and posting uproarious (and distinctly) bizarre skits on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women obsessively fixated on pregnancy; another imagined working at the brand Hollister as like being stuck in a scary movie. Interestingly, she met Seligman through the university’s film scene and ultimately featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a funeral gathering with hints of the intense thriller. The big theme of her path, she explains, has been peers giving her a shot, instead of established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, stating humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who questioned about Sennott earlier will certainly be feeling foolish today. In what she labels a “wild, full-circle” story, she seems to have created her dream vehicle. Previously she posted a video called “it’s LA” online, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about Angelenos balancing benefits of digital stardom (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your associate being suspected of being a substance-abusing stealer, and perhaps becoming a risky pariah). It would be easy to produce a series about digital influence that was extremely idealized—or, worse, one that mocked at its subjects. I Love LA does neither, resulting in a portrait of advantaged millennial living that’s frank about the grot and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
