The star joins the online meeting and immediately launches into an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, seeming truly regretful. She is only a bit delayed, she feels compelled 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, in this context, this is just what is ideal to experience. Moreover, it’s pretty expected. Those who have seen her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and brash film titled Bottoms—that she co-wrote with Emma Seligman and featured in together with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—can be aware that Sennott holds much to share, be it on gender, relationships, or the merits of starting a teen combat group. Furthermore, by the end her latest seasonal HBO series titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she has additional insights on the challenges of modern youth (As a millennial, she is an honorary member to younger audiences, on the cusp adept for bridging different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges enthusiastic, naming the show in addition to the classic series, Insecure and the innovative program as influences for I Love LA, which details the journey of an influencer Tallulah and close companion and new talent manager Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the largest influence on concept was reserved for the HBO series, the HBO sitcom depicting a rising celebrity making his way in an often-seedy entertainment industry (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it throughout lockdown, became “hooked”, and decided to add a fresh perspective on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she notes. The inspiration for the series emerged—in part—from personal, originally difficult, transition to LA and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about occurrence for astrology heads. It was a time that involved her grasp some big insights, work-wise and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Early Beginnings
Brought up in the East Coast, the star began writing and performing stand-up while enrolled in performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at open mics with Ayo and posting hysterical (and decidedly) weird skits digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted several females intensely drawn to having babies; a different one envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as like being caught in a horror film. Interestingly, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and ultimately starring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the intense thriller. The central motif of her career, she notes, has been peers offering opportunities, as opposed to established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, stating with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who were skeptical regarding Sennott previously will certainly be kicking themselves today. Through she describes as a “wild, full-circle” development, she seems to have manifested an ideal role. A few years back she shared a clip titled “it’s LA” on social media, in which she parodied film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a comedy about city dwellers managing the perks of internet fame (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being accused of being a drug-addled thief, and possibly becoming a unreliable persona non grata). Some could simple to create a show about internet celebrity that was extremely glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at the characters. This show does neither, making for a depiction of advantaged young adult existence that’s honest about the mess and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
