The performer joins the video call and right away begins an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, sounding really regretful. She is only a bit late, she needs to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, for a writer, this is exactly what is ideal to encounter. Moreover, it’s fairly predictable. Those who know the boldly queer and outspoken film titled Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with the director and starred in alongside her friend Ayo Edebiri—will already know that Sennott holds a lot to say, be it on identity, intimacy, or the pros of forming a high-school combat group. Furthermore, once you finish the latest eight-part show I Love LA, it is clear that she has further thoughts regarding the struggles of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott is an honorary member for this generation, on the cusp adept for straddling both generations).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and Sennott readily acknowledges a fan, citing the show in addition to the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for I Love LA, which follows the struggles of an influencer Tallulah and close companion who is also new representative portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the largest presence on concept was reserved for Entourage, that show about an emerging Hollywood star navigating in an often-seedy LA scene (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She started watching it amid COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and chose to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The inspiration for the series emerged—to some extent—from her own, at first rocky, move to LA and from her astrological phase, a frequently discussed occurrence for followers. That period marked a phase that included her understand some big insights, work-wise and individually. “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
Brought up in Connecticut, Sennott commenced writing and performing stand-up while pursuing performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” 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?”
She took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at open mics with Edebiri and uploading uproarious (and distinctly) bizarre skits digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women fetishistically drawn to pregnancy; a different one portrayed working at the brand Hollister as akin to being stuck in a horror film. Interestingly, she connected with Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately featuring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her career, she says, has been people her own age supporting her, rather than traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, adding humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Individuals who were skeptical about Sennott earlier will likely be feeling foolish today. In what she describes as a “wild, full-circle” story, she appears to manifested her dream vehicle. Previously she shared a video titled on LA life on social media, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a show about Angelenos managing benefits of internet fame (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your client being labeled as being a intoxicated thief, and perhaps becoming a risky outcast). One might tempting to make a program about digital influence that was extremely glamorous—or, more problematic, one that belittled at those depicted. I Love LA steers clear of each, making for a representation of privileged young adult existence that’s honest about the mess and the shine.
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 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
