🔗 Share this article

The star appears on the digital interview and immediately begins an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, seeming truly apologetic. Despite being only a bit delayed, she needs to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, in this context, that’s exactly what one hopes to hear. Moreover, it’s fairly predictable. Those familiar with the boldly queer and unapologetically crass project Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with the director and featured in with close companion the talented actress—can understand that Sennott holds plenty to discuss, whether about identity, sex, or the pros of creating a youth brawl society. Plus, once you finish the new multi-episode HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star has even more insights regarding the challenges of modern youth (As a millennial, Sennott serves as a bridge of the gang, on the cusp adept for bridging millennials and Gen Z).

Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach

The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and Sennott is enthusiastic, citing it together with the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as inspirations for I Love LA, which details the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and new representative portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the most significant presence on creative vision was reserved for the popular sitcom, that HBO sitcom about a rising celebrity succeeding in a corrupt LA scene (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it amid the pandemic, became “hooked”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.

“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The inspiration for I Love LA emerged—in part—from personal, initially rocky, relocation to LA and from the astrological phase, a much-talked-about phenomenon for astrology heads. That period marked a phase that included her learn some big life lessons, professionally and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” 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…”

Starting Out

Growing up in New England, Sennott started creating and acting comedy while enrolled in acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. 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 took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at amateur nights with her friend and posting uproarious (and decidedly) bizarre comedy videos on the internet. One, titled Baby Cult, centered on a group of women intensely drawn to having babies; a different one portrayed being employed at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being caught in a thriller. By chance, she encountered Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ultimately featuring in her first film, Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a religious event with shades of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her journey, she explains, has been people her own age offering opportunities, as opposed to traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, adding humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”

Manifesting Dreams

Anyone who questioned regarding her then will surely be kicking themselves currently. In what she describes as a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she has achieved an ideal role. In 2019 she posted a video named about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a comedy about LA residents juggling the perks of online celebrity (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your client being accused of being a drug-addled criminal, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). Some could tempting to make a show about internet celebrity that was horribly idealized—or, more problematic, one that belittled at the characters. The series steers clear of each, making for a representation of affluent twentysomething existence that’s candid about the chaos and the shine.

Empathetic Approach

“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” she observes. “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