The performer enters the online meeting and right away launches into an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, seeming really remorseful. Despite being only a couple of minutes late, she feels compelled to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, in this context, that’s just what is ideal to encounter. Moreover, it’s quite predictable. Viewers who have seen her boldly queer and outspoken movie Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with her creative partner and featured in with her friend the talented actress—will already know that she has a lot to discuss, ranging from on gender, relationships, or the merits of forming a youth combat group. And, once you finish the new eight-part show I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she carries further insights about the darker side of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she is a relatable figure to younger audiences, straddling eras adept for connecting different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and Sennott is a fan, referencing it in addition to the HBO hit, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as influences for the project, which follows the struggles of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also aspiring talent manager Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the most significant influence on creative vision belonged to the HBO series, that HBO sitcom about an up-and-coming A-list actor navigating in an often-seedy LA scene (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it during lockdown, became “obsessed”, 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 explains. The concept for this project emerged—in part—from personal, initially fractious, transition to LA and from the saturn return, a frequently discussed event for followers. That period marked a phase that saw her grasp some big life lessons, in her career and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” 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 resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Humble Origins
Raised in the East Coast, the star commenced developing and showcasing comedy while enrolled in acting at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “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. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at open mics with Ayo and posting uproarious (and decidedly) weird online content on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted a group of women fetishistically obsessed with motherhood; a different one imagined being employed at the brand Hollister as similar to being stuck in a horror film. By chance, she encountered Seligman through the university’s film scene and ultimately starring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a religious event with shades of the intense thriller. The big theme of her career, she says, has been contemporaries supporting her, instead of traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, stating amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Individuals who had doubts about Sennott earlier will certainly be regretting it now. In what she describes as a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she has achieved the perfect project. Previously she uploaded a video named about Los Angeles on social media, in which she mocked movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a series about city dwellers balancing advantages of digital stardom (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being suspected of being a intoxicated thief, and potentially becoming a unreliable outcast). Some could tempting to produce a program about digital influence that was horribly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at its subjects. I Love LA steers clear of each, creating a portrait of privileged young adult existence that’s honest about the grot and the shine.
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
