The performer joins the video call and immediately begins an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, appearing truly remorseful. She is only slightly delayed, she needs to justify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, for a writer, this is precisely what is ideal to experience. Additionally, it’s pretty predictable. Viewers who know the fearlessly openly gay and unapologetically crass film titled Bottoms—which she penned with the director and starred in together with her friend the talented actress—would be aware that she has much to share, be it about identity, intimacy, or the merits of creating a teen brawl society. Furthermore, once you finish her latest multi-episode program titled I Love LA, viewers realize that the star has even more perspectives regarding the struggles of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott is a relatable figure to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial with a knack for straddling different age groups).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and the actress readily acknowledges a fan, citing the show alongside Sex and the City, Insecure and Atlanta as influences for the project, which details the journey of an influencer Tallulah and ally and new representative Sennott’s character. Notably, the biggest presence on concept went to the HBO series, that show about an emerging celebrity making his way in a corrupt LA scene (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott began viewing it amid the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and decided to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she notes. The inspiration for I Love LA originated—partly—from her own, initially fractious, relocation to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a much-talked-about occurrence for astrology heads. That period marked a time that saw her grasp major life lessons, professionally and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Early Beginnings
Brought up in New England, Sennott began creating and acting humor while pursuing theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “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. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She decided to act independently, taking the stage at live shows with Edebiri and sharing uproarious (and decidedly) weird skits digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on several females fetishistically obsessed with motherhood; another envisioned working at the brand Hollister as akin to being trapped in a thriller. By chance, she met Seligman through the university’s film scene and ultimately starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a funeral gathering with hints of the intense thriller. The central motif of her career, she notes, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, rather than established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, stating amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who questioned about her then will certainly be feeling foolish today. In what she labels a “astonishingly complete” development, she seems to have achieved the perfect project. A few years back she posted a video titled about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she mocked film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a comedy about city dwellers balancing advantages of online celebrity (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your associate being accused of being a substance-abusing criminal, and potentially becoming a risky pariah). Some could simple to make a series about internet celebrity that was overly idealized—or, worse, one that belittled at its subjects. This show avoids both, resulting in a depiction of advantaged twentysomething existence that’s candid about the mess and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“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
