The star enters the video call and immediately begins an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, seeming truly apologetic. She is only a bit delayed, she wants to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, in this context, that’s precisely what you want to hear. Moreover, it’s pretty expected. Those who have seen the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass movie Bottoms—which she penned with the director and appeared in with close companion The Bear’s standout—can understand that Sennott has plenty to say, be it about roles, sex, or the appeal of starting a youth fight club. And, once you finish her new multi-episode HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has further insights regarding the struggles of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, she represents a relatable figure to younger audiences, straddling eras skilled for straddling both generations).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and the actress readily acknowledges enthusiastic, citing it alongside Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as influences for her series, which follows the struggles of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and fledgling talent manager portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the biggest spot on concept went to Entourage, the show focusing on an emerging celebrity succeeding in a gritty entertainment industry (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott discovered it during lockdown, became “obsessed”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she notes. The concept for I Love LA came—partly—from personal, at first rocky, relocation to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a popular phenomenon for astrology heads. This represented a time that saw her understand major insights, professionally and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Brought up in New England, the star started writing and performing comedy 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. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott decided to act independently, taking the stage at open mics with Edebiri and uploading hysterical (and decidedly) bizarre comedy videos on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on a group of women fetishistically obsessed with motherhood; another imagined working at the brand Hollister as similar to being stuck in a horror film. Interestingly, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up starring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a funeral gathering with echoes of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her journey, she says, has been peers offering opportunities, as opposed to the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, continuing with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who were skeptical about her previously will surely be regretting it today. As part of she describes as a “incredibly circular” story, she appears to created an ideal role. In 2019 she posted content called “it’s LA” on social media, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a show about Angelenos managing advantages of internet fame (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being suspected of being a substance-abusing thief, and potentially becoming a risky pariah). Some could easy to make a show about online fame that was overly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at its subjects. This show steers clear of each, resulting in a depiction of affluent young adult existence that’s candid about the grot and the appeal.
Balanced Perspective
“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
