The star joins the digital interview and right away launches into an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, sounding genuinely remorseful. Although she's only a couple of minutes delayed, she feels compelled 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, during an interview, that’s precisely what one hopes to hear. Moreover, it’s fairly unsurprising. Viewers who know the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and outspoken movie titled Bottoms—that she co-wrote with the director and starred in alongside close companion The Bear’s standout—will understand that Sennott possesses much to say, be it about gender, sex, or the appeal of creating a teen combat group. And, after watching her new seasonal show I Love LA, viewers realize that the star has further insights regarding the darker side of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, she serves as a bridge to younger audiences, straddling eras adept for bridging different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and Sennott readily acknowledges a fan, referencing the show in addition to the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as influences for the project, which tracks the journey of online personality Tallulah and ally and new talent manager Maia. Perhaps, the biggest spot on concept went to the HBO series, that HBO sitcom about a rising A-list actor making his way in a corrupt Hollywood (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it during the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and chose to create a new version on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The concept for this project came—partly—from personal, initially rocky, relocation to LA and from her saturn return, a much-talked-about occurrence for enthusiasts. It was an era that included her learn some big truths, work-wise and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “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…”
Starting Out
Brought up in the East Coast, the star started developing and showcasing stand-up while enrolled in performance at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott decided to act independently, performing at open mics with Ayo and posting hysterical (and decidedly) bizarre comedy videos online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted several females intensely obsessed with having babies; a different one envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being stuck in a scary movie. Interestingly, she met Emma through the university’s film scene and eventually appearing in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a Jewish wake with hints of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her path, she says, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, instead of traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, stating with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who had doubts about her earlier will likely be regretting it now. Through she describes as a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she has manifested her dream vehicle. A few years back she shared content called “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she mocked movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a show about Angelenos managing advantages of digital stardom (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your client being accused of being a substance-abusing thief, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). Some could tempting to make a show about digital influence that was horribly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that punched down at the characters. I Love LA steers clear of each, creating a portrait of affluent twentysomething life 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 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
