The performer joins the online meeting and at once begins an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, appearing genuinely regretful. Although she's only slightly late, she needs to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, for a writer, this is just what is ideal to experience. Besides, it’s fairly unsurprising. Viewers familiar with her boldly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass movie titled Bottoms—which she penned with the director and starred in alongside her friend the talented actress—can already know that she holds plenty to say, be it on roles, intimacy, or the appeal of creating a youth combat group. And, by the end her new eight-part HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has additional insights regarding the darker side of modern youth (At 30, Sennott is a bridge to younger audiences, on the cusp adept for connecting both generations).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is enthusiastic, citing the show alongside the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as inspirations for I Love LA, which details the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and new talent manager portrayed by Sennott. However, the biggest influence on the moodboard was reserved for the popular sitcom, that program depicting an emerging A-list actor succeeding in an often-seedy entertainment industry (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it amid the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and resolved to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she explains. The idea for I Love LA originated—in part—from her own, originally fractious, relocation to Los Angeles and from the cosmic event, a popular phenomenon for astrology heads. It was a phase that included her learn some big insights, in her career 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 was almost like these biblical tests …”
Starting Out
Brought up in the East Coast, Sennott began developing and showcasing comedy while pursuing acting at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She took matters into her own hands, performing at amateur nights with Ayo and sharing uproarious (and very) weird online content on the internet. One, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women obsessively fixated on pregnancy; a different one portrayed being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being stuck in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Emma through the university’s film scene and eventually featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a religious event with echoes of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her career, she notes, has been people her own age supporting her, instead of the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, continuing amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who questioned about Sennott then will likely be regretting it now. In what she labels a “astonishingly complete” development, she appears to achieved her dream vehicle. Previously she posted content named “it’s LA” on social media, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a show about LA residents managing the perks of digital stardom (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your friend being suspected of being a substance-abusing thief, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). One might easy to produce a program about internet celebrity that was horribly idealized—or, more problematic, one that mocked at its subjects. The series does neither, resulting in a depiction of advantaged twentysomething life that’s honest about the mess and the appeal.
Balanced Perspective
“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
