The performer appears on the online meeting and at once launches into an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, seeming really apologetic. Despite being only a bit late, she feels compelled to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s exactly what one hopes to encounter. Besides, it’s fairly expected. Those who have seen the unapologetically openly gay and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—that she collaborated on with her creative partner and starred in with her friend the talented actress—can already know that she possesses much to discuss, be it about identity, relationships, or the appeal of creating a teen combat group. And, after watching the latest multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that she holds further thoughts regarding the struggles of modern youth (As a millennial, Sennott serves as a bridge of the gang, straddling eras with a knack for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is enthusiastic, naming it alongside Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as guides for I Love LA, which details the journey of a social media star Tallulah and close companion and fledgling representative Maia. Notably, the largest influence on the moodboard went to Entourage, that program depicting an emerging Hollywood star navigating in an often-seedy Hollywood (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it amid the pandemic, became “captivated”, and chose to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“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 emerged—in part—from her own, at first fractious, relocation to Tinseltown and from her saturn return, a much-talked-about event for enthusiasts. That period marked an era that saw her grasp some big truths, professionally and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Early Beginnings
Brought up in New England, the star began creating and acting humor while pursuing acting 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 says. “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.”
She seized control, appearing at live shows with her friend and sharing hysterical (and decidedly) bizarre online content online. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed a group of women fetishistically fixated on having babies; another imagined being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being trapped in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she met Emma through NYU’s movie community and ended up starring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a Jewish wake with shades of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been people her own age giving her a shot, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, stating humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who had doubts regarding her previously will likely be feeling foolish now. Through she describes as a “astonishingly complete” story, she appears to achieved the perfect project. A few years back she shared a clip called on LA life online, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about LA residents managing the perks of digital stardom (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your friend being suspected of being a drug-addled thief, and perhaps becoming a risky persona non grata). One might easy to produce a show about digital influence that was overly idealized—or, more problematic, one that punched down at the characters. The series avoids both, creating a portrait of advantaged millennial life that’s candid about the grot and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
