The star appears on the online meeting and at once starts an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, appearing really apologetic. She is only a bit late, she wants to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, for a writer, this is precisely what one hopes to experience. Additionally, it’s quite expected. Those who know the unapologetically queer and brash movie Bottoms—that she collaborated on with the director and starred in together with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—can already know that she holds much to say, be it on roles, relationships, or the pros of forming a high-school combat group. And, once you finish the new multi-episode show I Love LA, it is clear that she has additional insights on the darker side of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as a bridge for this generation, on the cusp with a knack for straddling both generations).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
Parallels to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress is a fan, citing it in addition to the HBO hit, Insecure and Atlanta as influences for her series, which follows the journey of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion who is also new agent Sennott’s character. Notably, the most significant presence on concept was reserved for the popular sitcom, that show focusing on a rising Hollywood star succeeding in a corrupt entertainment industry (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it during the pandemic, became “hooked”, and chose to put her own twist 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 idea for I Love LA originated—in part—from firsthand, at first difficult, transition to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a popular occurrence for enthusiasts. It was an era that saw her learn major truths, work-wise and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Humble Origins
Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott started developing and showcasing stand-up while studying performance at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott decided to act independently, taking the stage at open mics with Edebiri and uploading hilarious (and distinctly) weird comedy videos online. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted characters intensely obsessed with motherhood; another imagined being employed at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being stuck in a horror film. Interestingly, she connected with Emma through NYU’s movie community and eventually featuring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her path, she notes, has been peers offering opportunities, rather than the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, adding amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who were skeptical about Sennott previously will likely be feeling foolish now. In what she labels a “incredibly circular” development, she has created the perfect project. A few years back she shared content titled about Los Angeles on social media, in which she parodied movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a series about city dwellers managing the perks of internet fame (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a substance-abusing thief, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). Some could tempting to make a program about internet celebrity that was extremely glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at the characters. This show does neither, making for a portrait of privileged twentysomething existence that’s candid about the mess and the appeal.
Empathetic Approach
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” she says. “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
