The star enters the video call and at once starts an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, appearing really remorseful. Despite being only a couple of minutes delayed, she needs to justify. “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 just what one hopes to experience. Additionally, it’s fairly expected. Those who know her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and brash film titled Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with Emma Seligman and appeared in alongside close companion Ayo Edebiri—will understand that she possesses much to say, be it on roles, intimacy, or the merits of forming a youth brawl society. And, after watching the new multi-episode show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star carries even more insights about the struggles of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, she serves as a relatable figure of the gang, on the cusp skilled for bridging both generations).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is a fan, referencing the show together with Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as guides for I Love LA, which follows the journey of a social media star Tallulah and close companion who is also aspiring representative Sennott’s character. Notably, the biggest presence on concept was reserved for Entourage, the HBO sitcom depicting an emerging celebrity making his way in a gritty Hollywood (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it amid COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and resolved to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she notes. The inspiration for this project emerged—in part—from firsthand, at first fractious, transition to LA and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about phenomenon for enthusiasts. This represented a phase that saw her understand significant life lessons, professionally 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 resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Humble Origins
Brought up in the East Coast, the star commenced creating and acting humor while studying 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. 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?”
Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at amateur nights with Edebiri and uploading hilarious (and decidedly) unconventional comedy videos digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters intensely fixated on having babies; a different one envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as like being trapped in a horror film. By chance, she met Seligman through campus film circles and eventually starring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a religious event with shades of the intense thriller. The central motif of her career, she says, has been contemporaries supporting her, rather than the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, adding humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Rising Success
Those who had doubts about her earlier will likely be regretting it today. Through she calls a “incredibly circular” development, she has achieved the perfect project. Previously she posted a clip called on LA life on the internet, in which she mocked movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a show about Angelenos managing the perks of digital stardom (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being suspected of being a substance-abusing stealer, and perhaps becoming a unreliable outcast). Some could easy to create a show about online fame that was extremely aspirational—or, worse, one that punched down at the characters. This show avoids both, resulting in a portrait of privileged millennial existence that’s honest about the mess and the appeal.
Balanced Perspective
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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
