The performer joins the video call and right away launches into an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, sounding really apologetic. Although she's only slightly behind, she feels compelled to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, for a writer, this is exactly what one hopes to encounter. Besides, it’s fairly predictable. Anyone who know her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and outspoken film Bottoms—which she penned with Emma Seligman and featured in together with collaborator the talented actress—will understand that Sennott holds plenty to discuss, ranging from on identity, intimacy, or the pros of starting a youth brawl society. And, after watching her latest eight-part program titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she holds additional insights about the struggles of modern youth (As a millennial, she is an honorary member for this generation, a tale-end millennial with a knack for connecting both generations).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and Sennott is enthusiastic, naming it alongside Sex and the City, Insecure and the innovative program as guides for her series, which details the struggles of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion who is also new talent manager Maia. Perhaps, the largest influence on concept belonged to the HBO series, that HBO sitcom about an up-and-coming celebrity navigating in an often-seedy LA scene (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it amid COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and chose 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 explains. The idea for the series emerged—in part—from personal, initially fractious, relocation to LA and from her cosmic event, a popular event for enthusiasts. This represented a phase that involved her understand major truths, professionally and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Raised in Connecticut, Sennott started creating and acting stand-up while studying acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at amateur nights with Edebiri and posting uproarious (and decidedly) unconventional comedy videos on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on several females intensely obsessed with motherhood; another portrayed working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being caught in a horror film. By chance, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and ended up appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a religious event with echoes of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she says, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, as opposed to traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she confirms, continuing humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who questioned about Sennott previously will certainly be regretting it now. In what she describes as a “incredibly circular” story, she has achieved her dream vehicle. A few years back she shared content titled “it’s LA” online, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a comedy about LA residents balancing the perks of digital stardom (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your client being accused of being a drug-addled criminal, and possibly becoming a unreliable outcast). Some could simple to produce a show about digital influence that was overly aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at those depicted. I Love LA steers clear of each, making for a depiction of advantaged twentysomething living that’s honest about the chaos and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
