The performer enters the video call and right away launches into an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, seeming truly apologetic. She is only a bit late, she wants to explain. “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, during an interview, that’s exactly what one hopes to hear. Besides, it’s quite unsurprising. Viewers who have seen her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass movie titled Bottoms—that she penned with her creative partner and featured in alongside her friend Ayo Edebiri—would already know that Sennott holds much to say, be it on roles, sex, or the pros of creating a high-school fight club. And, after watching the new seasonal HBO series I Love LA, viewers realize that she carries further perspectives on the struggles of modern youth (At 30, she represents an honorary member to younger audiences, on the cusp skilled for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott is an admirer, citing the show in addition to Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as inspirations for the project, which tracks the journey of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also new agent portrayed by Sennott. However, the largest influence on the moodboard belonged to the popular sitcom, the HBO sitcom depicting an emerging Hollywood star making his way in an often-seedy entertainment industry (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott started watching it throughout lockdown, became “hooked”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The idea for I Love LA came—partly—from personal, at first rocky, transition to LA and from the cosmic event, a much-talked-about occurrence for followers. It was a time that involved her learn major life lessons, professionally and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” 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 was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Growing up in New England, the star commenced writing and performing stand-up while studying acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “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 open mics with Edebiri and uploading hilarious (and distinctly) unconventional online content digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women intensely obsessed with having babies; a different one imagined being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being stuck in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the intense thriller. The central motif of her career, she explains, has been peers giving her a shot, instead of established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she repeats, continuing with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who were skeptical about Sennott previously will surely be regretting it now. In what she calls a “astonishingly complete” story, she seems to have achieved her dream vehicle. Previously she shared a clip named on LA life on social media, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a series about LA residents managing advantages of digital stardom (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being accused of being a drug-addled criminal, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). It would be tempting to make a show about online fame that was horribly idealized—or, more problematic, one that punched down at its subjects. I Love LA does neither, resulting in a portrait of affluent young adult life that’s honest about the mess and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
