The star joins the video call and at once launches into an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, seeming truly apologetic. She is only a bit behind, she wants to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, in this context, that’s just what one hopes to experience. Additionally, it’s pretty unsurprising. Viewers familiar with the unapologetically openly gay and outspoken project titled Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and appeared in together with close companion The Bear’s standout—will be aware that she possesses a lot to discuss, whether on roles, relationships, or the pros of forming a youth fight club. And, after watching her recent eight-part HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that she carries further insights on the darker side of modern youth (As a millennial, she represents a relatable figure for this generation, on the cusp adept for connecting different age groups).
Influences and Creative Vision
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges a fan, referencing it in addition to the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as influences for the project, which details the travails of online personality Tallulah and ally and fledgling talent manager portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the biggest spot on the moodboard went to Entourage, that program about an emerging Hollywood star making his way in a gritty LA scene (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it during the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and decided to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she says. The inspiration for I Love LA came—in part—from her own, initially rocky, move to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a frequently discussed phenomenon for followers. It was a time that included her understand some big insights, work-wise and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Starting Out
Growing up in Connecticut, the star started writing and performing humor while pursuing theatre 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. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She seized control, performing at open mics with Edebiri and sharing uproarious (and decidedly) bizarre online content on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted characters obsessively drawn to having babies; another envisioned working at the brand Hollister as similar to being caught in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately appearing in her initial project, 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 explains, has been people her own age offering opportunities, rather than the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, stating amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who had doubts about her then will certainly be kicking themselves now. Through she labels a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she appears to created her dream vehicle. A few years back she uploaded a video called about Los Angeles on social media, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a comedy about city dwellers managing the perks of online celebrity (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being accused of being a drug-addled criminal, and perhaps becoming a unreliable outcast). One might tempting to make a show about online fame that was horribly idealized—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at its subjects. I Love LA steers clear of each, making for a portrait of privileged millennial existence that’s candid about the mess and the glamour.
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 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
