The star appears on the online meeting and immediately starts an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, sounding really regretful. Although she's only a bit delayed, she needs to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, during an interview, that’s precisely what you want to experience. Moreover, it’s quite predictable. Anyone familiar with her unapologetically queer and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with the director and featured in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—can be aware that she possesses much to share, ranging from about gender, intimacy, or the merits of forming a high-school brawl society. Plus, after watching her new multi-episode program I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries even more thoughts on the darker side of young adulthood (As a millennial, she represents a relatable figure of the gang, straddling eras with a knack for connecting different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and the actress readily acknowledges an admirer, naming it alongside Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as inspirations for I Love LA, which follows the journey of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and aspiring talent manager Sennott’s character. Notably, the most significant spot on concept was reserved for the popular sitcom, the HBO sitcom focusing on an emerging A-list actor succeeding in a corrupt Hollywood (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it during the pandemic, became “hooked”, and resolved to create a new version on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The idea for this project originated—partly—from firsthand, originally fractious, relocation to LA and from the saturn return, a much-talked-about phenomenon for followers. That period marked a phase that saw her understand some big insights, in her career and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” 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 was almost like these biblical tests …”
Starting Out
Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott commenced writing and performing stand-up while enrolled in acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “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.”
Sennott seized control, appearing at amateur nights with Edebiri and posting hilarious (and distinctly) weird online content digitally. One, Baby Cult, followed characters obsessively fixated on pregnancy; another portrayed working at the brand Hollister as like being trapped in a scary movie. By chance, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and eventually starring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a funeral gathering with echoes of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her path, she notes, has been peers supporting her, rather than traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, stating amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Individuals who were skeptical regarding her previously will likely be kicking themselves currently. In what she describes as a “wild, full-circle” development, she seems to have achieved the perfect project. In 2019 she uploaded a video called “it’s LA” on social media, in which she lampooned film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a series about city dwellers juggling benefits of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your client being accused of being a intoxicated stealer, and perhaps becoming a unreliable persona non grata). Some could simple to create a show about online fame that was horribly glamorous—or, worse, one that belittled at its subjects. The series avoids both, making for a depiction of advantaged young adult life that’s candid about the chaos and the glamour.
Empathetic Approach
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
