The star joins the online meeting and immediately starts an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, appearing really apologetic. Although she's only a couple of minutes behind, she wants to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s precisely what you want to encounter. Besides, it’s pretty expected. Viewers who know the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass project Bottoms—that she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and starred in with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—would already know that she possesses a lot to share, be it on roles, relationships, or the merits of forming a teen fight club. Plus, by the end her new eight-part program titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she holds additional insights about the struggles of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she represents a relatable figure to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial skilled for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and Sennott is enthusiastic, referencing the show alongside the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as influences for her series, which tracks the struggles of an influencer Tallulah and ally and aspiring representative portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the largest presence on concept was reserved for the HBO series, the program focusing on an emerging A-list actor making his way in an often-seedy LA scene (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott discovered it amid the pandemic, became “captivated”, 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 idea for this project originated—partly—from personal, originally fractious, move to LA and from the astrological phase, a popular phenomenon for enthusiasts. That period marked a phase that included her understand some big life lessons, professionally and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Humble Origins
Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing comedy while enrolled in performance at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she states. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She decided to act independently, appearing at open mics with Edebiri and uploading uproarious (and distinctly) bizarre online content online. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted characters fetishistically fixated on motherhood; another portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being stuck in a scary movie. By chance, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and eventually starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a Jewish wake with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her journey, she notes, has been people her own age giving her a shot, instead of established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, continuing humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who had doubts regarding her then will likely be feeling foolish today. In what she describes as a “incredibly circular” story, she seems to have achieved an ideal role. A few years back she shared a clip titled on LA life on the internet, in which she lampooned film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a show about Angelenos juggling the perks of online celebrity (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being accused of being a intoxicated stealer, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). It would be simple to produce a program about digital influence that was horribly aspirational—or, worse, one that belittled at those depicted. This show steers clear of each, resulting in a representation of privileged twentysomething living that’s honest about the grot 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 observes. “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
