The star joins the video call and immediately launches into an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, appearing truly apologetic. She is only slightly delayed, she wants to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, in this context, that’s exactly what is ideal to experience. Additionally, it’s fairly predictable. Anyone who know the fearlessly openly gay and brash movie titled Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with the director and starred in with close companion Ayo Edebiri—would understand that she possesses a lot to say, be it about gender, intimacy, or the merits of starting a teen brawl society. Furthermore, by the end her latest eight-part HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star carries even more perspectives regarding the darker side of young adulthood (At 30, Sennott is an honorary member for this generation, straddling eras skilled for connecting both generations).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and Sennott is a fan, naming it alongside the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as influences for her series, which follows the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and new representative portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the most significant spot on creative vision belonged to Entourage, the program depicting an emerging A-list actor navigating in a corrupt LA scene (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott started watching it during COVID-19, became “hooked”, and resolved to put her own twist 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 notes. The inspiration for I Love LA emerged—to some extent—from personal, at first rocky, transition to Los Angeles and from her cosmic event, a frequently discussed phenomenon for enthusiasts. This represented a time that involved her grasp some big life lessons, in her career and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “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 comedy 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. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at live shows with Edebiri and uploading hysterical (and decidedly) weird skits online. One, Baby Cult, depicted several females fetishistically fixated on having babies; a different one imagined being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being stuck in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Seligman through the university’s film scene and ended up featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her career, she says, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, rather than established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, stating with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who questioned about Sennott previously will certainly be kicking themselves now. As part of she describes as a “astonishingly complete” story, she seems to have created an ideal role. Previously she uploaded a video named “it’s LA” online, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a show about Angelenos balancing advantages of internet fame (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your client being suspected of being a intoxicated stealer, and perhaps becoming a risky persona non grata). One might easy to create a series about online fame that was horribly aspirational—or, worse, one that punched down at those depicted. The series avoids both, making for a depiction of affluent young adult life that’s honest about the chaos and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“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
