The star enters the online meeting and at once begins an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, seeming genuinely apologetic. Despite being only a bit behind, she wants to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, for a writer, this is precisely what is ideal to experience. Moreover, it’s quite unsurprising. Those familiar with her boldly queer and outspoken film Bottoms—which she penned with her creative partner and starred in alongside close companion Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that she holds plenty to discuss, be it on roles, sex, or the appeal of creating a high-school combat group. And, once you finish her latest seasonal HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds additional insights regarding the challenges of modern youth (As a millennial, she serves as an honorary member to younger audiences, straddling eras with a knack for straddling different age groups).
Influences and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and the actress is an admirer, citing it in addition to Sex and the City, Insecure and Atlanta as guides for the project, which tracks the travails of an influencer Tallulah and her friend who is also new agent Maia. Perhaps, the largest influence on creative vision went to Entourage, the HBO sitcom focusing on an up-and-coming Hollywood star making his way in a corrupt Hollywood (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She began viewing it during lockdown, became “hooked”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she notes. The concept for I Love LA came—to some extent—from her own, at first fractious, transition to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a popular phenomenon for astrology heads. It was a time that involved her understand major truths, in her career and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Humble Origins
Raised in the East Coast, Sennott began creating and acting comedy while enrolled in acting at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She decided to act independently, performing at live shows with her friend and posting hysterical (and very) weird skits on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters intensely obsessed with pregnancy; a different one portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being caught in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and eventually starring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a Jewish wake with hints of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her journey, she notes, has been contemporaries supporting her, rather than established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, adding with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Individuals who were skeptical about her then will likely be regretting it now. Through she calls a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she seems to have manifested the perfect project. A few years back she shared content called “it’s LA” on social media, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a show about Angelenos balancing benefits of online celebrity (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being labeled as being a intoxicated stealer, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). It would be easy to make a series about digital influence that was extremely glamorous—or, more problematic, one that mocked at the characters. The series avoids both, creating a representation of privileged millennial living that’s honest about the chaos and the shine.
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
