The performer joins the video call and at once begins an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, sounding genuinely apologetic. Despite being only a couple of minutes behind, she wants to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Fortunately, in this context, that’s just what one hopes to encounter. Moreover, it’s pretty predictable. Viewers who know the fearlessly queer and outspoken movie titled Bottoms—that she penned with her creative partner and starred in alongside her friend the talented actress—can already know that Sennott holds a lot to say, whether about gender, relationships, or the pros of forming a youth brawl society. Furthermore, by the end the new multi-episode program titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries even more insights on the struggles of young adulthood (At 30, she represents an honorary member of the gang, a tale-end millennial with a knack for straddling different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott admits to being an admirer, citing it together with the HBO hit, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for I Love LA, which follows the struggles of online personality Tallulah and ally and new talent manager Sennott’s character. However, the biggest presence on the moodboard went to Entourage, the program depicting an emerging Hollywood star navigating in a gritty entertainment industry (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it amid lockdown, became “captivated”, and decided to add a fresh perspective 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 says. The concept for the series originated—partly—from her own, initially rocky, transition to LA and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about phenomenon for astrology heads. That period marked an era that included her grasp significant insights, work-wise and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” 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…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in the East Coast, Sennott commenced creating and acting comedy while pursuing performance at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at amateur nights with Ayo and posting hilarious (and distinctly) bizarre comedy videos on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on a group of women intensely drawn to pregnancy; another envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as like being caught in a thriller. By chance, she connected with Seligman through the university’s film scene and ultimately starring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a religious event with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her path, she notes, has been people her own age offering opportunities, instead of established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, stating with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who were skeptical regarding Sennott earlier will certainly be feeling foolish currently. As part of she labels a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she appears to achieved an ideal role. A few years back she uploaded a clip titled about Los Angeles online, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a show about Angelenos juggling advantages of digital stardom (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your friend being labeled as being a drug-addled thief, and potentially becoming a unreliable pariah). It would be easy to create a program about online fame that was horribly aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at those depicted. I Love LA steers clear of each, creating a portrait of affluent twentysomething living that’s candid about the mess and the glamour.
Empathetic Approach
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
