The star joins the video call and immediately launches into an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, sounding really regretful. Although she's only slightly delayed, she feels compelled to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, in this context, this is just what one hopes to experience. Additionally, it’s pretty unsurprising. Viewers who know her unapologetically openly gay and brash project titled Bottoms—that Sennott penned with Emma Seligman and appeared in together with close companion Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that she possesses a lot to share, whether on gender, intimacy, or the appeal of forming a youth combat group. Plus, by the end her new seasonal show titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds additional thoughts regarding the struggles of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, Sennott represents a relatable figure for this generation, straddling eras with a knack for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
Parallels to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott admits to being an admirer, naming it alongside the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for the project, which details the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and fledgling agent Sennott’s character. However, the most significant influence on the moodboard was reserved for the HBO series, the show focusing on a rising celebrity succeeding in a corrupt entertainment industry (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She began viewing it throughout COVID-19, became “captivated”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she explains. The concept for this project originated—partly—from personal, originally rocky, transition to Los Angeles and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed occurrence for astrology heads. It was a time that involved her grasp major insights, work-wise and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Starting Out
Brought up in Connecticut, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing stand-up while pursuing theatre 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. 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 took matters into her own hands, performing at amateur nights with Ayo and uploading hilarious (and distinctly) bizarre online content on the internet. One, Baby Cult, centered on a group of women obsessively fixated on pregnancy; another imagined working at the brand Hollister as akin to being trapped in a scary movie. Interestingly, she met Seligman through the university’s film scene and ultimately featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her journey, she says, has been peers offering opportunities, rather than the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she confirms, adding humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who questioned regarding her earlier will surely be feeling foolish currently. As part of she describes as a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she appears to achieved her dream vehicle. Previously she posted a clip called “it’s LA” online, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a comedy about city dwellers managing benefits of online celebrity (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being labeled as being a intoxicated stealer, and potentially becoming a risky outcast). Some could easy to create a program about online fame that was horribly glamorous—or, worse, one that punched down at those depicted. I Love LA avoids both, making for a portrait of affluent twentysomething living that’s honest about the mess and the appeal.
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 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
