The performer enters the video call and right away starts an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, seeming really remorseful. She is only a couple of minutes delayed, she wants to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, in this context, this is exactly what one hopes to encounter. Moreover, it’s pretty predictable. Viewers who have seen her boldly LGBTQ+ and brash film titled Bottoms—which she penned with Emma Seligman and featured in together with her friend the talented actress—can understand that Sennott has much to say, whether about identity, relationships, or the merits of starting a youth fight club. And, after watching the new seasonal show I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries even more thoughts on the struggles of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott represents an honorary member for this generation, a tale-end millennial adept for straddling both generations).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott admits to being enthusiastic, naming it in addition to the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as guides for her series, which details the journey of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and aspiring representative portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the largest influence on the moodboard was reserved for Entourage, that program depicting a rising Hollywood star making his way in a corrupt Hollywood (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She discovered it throughout lockdown, became “obsessed”, and chose to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she notes. The idea for I Love LA came—partly—from personal, originally fractious, relocation to Tinseltown and from the astrological phase, a much-talked-about event for enthusiasts. That period marked a phase that included her understand significant truths, work-wise and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Brought up in Connecticut, the star started developing and showcasing humor while studying 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. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott decided to act independently, performing at open mics with her friend and sharing hilarious (and very) weird online content on the internet. One, Baby Cult, depicted characters intensely fixated on having babies; another imagined being employed at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being caught in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ended up appearing in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a religious event with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her career, she notes, has been people her own age offering opportunities, rather than traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, stating with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who were skeptical regarding Sennott then will certainly be regretting it currently. As part of she describes as a “wild, full-circle” development, she seems to have manifested an ideal role. In 2019 she posted a video called about Los Angeles on social media, in which she parodied film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a series about LA residents balancing benefits of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a substance-abusing criminal, and possibly becoming a risky outcast). Some could tempting to make a show about digital influence that was horribly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at the characters. The series avoids both, making for a representation of advantaged young adult living that’s frank about the mess and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
