The performer joins the video call and immediately launches into an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, seeming truly regretful. Although she's only a couple of minutes behind, 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!” Fortunately, during an interview, that’s precisely what you want to encounter. Moreover, it’s fairly predictable. Viewers who have seen the boldly LGBTQ+ and outspoken project Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and appeared in alongside her friend the talented actress—would be aware that she possesses much to discuss, be it on roles, sex, or the appeal of creating a youth combat group. And, by the end her new multi-episode show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has further thoughts on the challenges of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, she serves as an honorary member for this generation, straddling eras with a knack for connecting different age groups).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and the actress is an admirer, citing the show in addition to the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as guides for her series, which tracks the travails of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and aspiring representative portrayed by Sennott. However, the largest influence on the moodboard was reserved for the HBO series, that HBO sitcom focusing on an up-and-coming celebrity making his way in a gritty Hollywood (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She discovered it amid the pandemic, became “captivated”, and chose to put her own twist 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 notes. The inspiration for I Love LA came—to some extent—from her own, originally rocky, relocation to LA and from her cosmic event, a popular occurrence for followers. This represented a phase that involved her learn some big life lessons, work-wise and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Humble Origins
Growing up in New England, Sennott began writing and performing humor while studying theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “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. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott decided to act independently, performing at open mics with her friend and posting hilarious (and decidedly) unconventional skits digitally. One, Baby Cult, centered on characters obsessively obsessed with pregnancy; another imagined working at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being trapped in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she met Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she says, has been contemporaries supporting her, rather than established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, stating with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who were skeptical regarding Sennott previously will surely be kicking themselves currently. In what she labels a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she has created an ideal role. Previously she uploaded a video named on LA life online, in which she lampooned film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a comedy about city dwellers managing benefits of internet fame (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being suspected of being a drug-addled thief, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). Some could simple to make a show about internet celebrity that was extremely idealized—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at the characters. I Love LA avoids both, resulting in a portrait of affluent millennial existence that’s frank about the grot and the shine.
Empathetic Approach
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
