The performer enters the digital interview and at once begins an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, sounding really apologetic. Despite being only a bit delayed, she feels compelled to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s precisely what you want to encounter. Additionally, it’s pretty unsurprising. Those who have seen the unapologetically queer and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—that Sennott penned with her creative partner and appeared in with her friend the talented actress—can already know that she has plenty to say, whether about roles, intimacy, or the merits of forming a high-school fight club. Plus, by the end her new eight-part program I Love LA, it is clear that she has additional thoughts about the struggles of Gen Z life (As a millennial, Sennott represents a relatable figure for this generation, a tale-end millennial skilled for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and the actress admits to being a fan, referencing the show in addition to Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for the project, which follows the struggles of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion who is also fledgling talent manager Sennott’s character. However, the biggest presence on creative vision went to Entourage, the program about a rising Hollywood star making his way in an often-seedy LA scene (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She discovered it amid COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and decided to add a fresh perspective on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she says. The inspiration for I Love LA came—in part—from personal, initially difficult, transition to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a popular occurrence for astrology heads. This represented a time that involved her understand significant insights, in her career and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Starting Out
Raised in the East Coast, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing humor while pursuing theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “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. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at amateur nights with Edebiri and posting hilarious (and very) unconventional online content online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women intensely drawn to pregnancy; a different one portrayed working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being caught in a horror film. Interestingly, she connected with Seligman through campus film circles and ended up featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a funeral gathering with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her path, she notes, has been people her own age giving her a shot, instead of traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she repeats, continuing with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Anyone who questioned about her previously will certainly be regretting it currently. In what she calls a “astonishingly complete” development, she appears to achieved her dream vehicle. Previously she shared content titled about Los Angeles online, in which she mocked film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a series about LA residents juggling the perks of online celebrity (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being accused of being a intoxicated criminal, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). Some could easy to create a series about digital influence that was overly idealized—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at its subjects. I Love LA does neither, making for a representation of advantaged young adult living that’s honest about the chaos 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
