The star joins the digital interview and immediately starts an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, sounding genuinely regretful. Although she's only a bit late, she feels compelled to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, for a writer, that’s just what you want to encounter. Additionally, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone familiar with the boldly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass project Bottoms—which she penned with her creative partner and appeared in alongside her friend the talented actress—would already know that she has much to discuss, whether on identity, intimacy, or the merits of starting a youth fight club. Plus, after watching her latest eight-part program I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star carries further insights regarding the challenges of modern youth (Now in her thirties, she is a bridge to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial with a knack for straddling different age groups).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott readily acknowledges a fan, citing the show in addition to the classic series, Insecure and the innovative program as guides for I Love LA, which details the travails of online personality Tallulah and ally who is also aspiring talent manager portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the largest influence on the moodboard belonged to the popular sitcom, the show about an up-and-coming celebrity making his way in an often-seedy entertainment industry (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it amid COVID-19, became “captivated”, and decided to add a fresh perspective on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The concept for this project came—partly—from firsthand, originally rocky, relocation to Tinseltown and from her astrological phase, a popular phenomenon for followers. That period marked a time that included her understand some big truths, professionally and in private life. “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 was almost like these biblical tests …”
Early Beginnings
Raised in the East Coast, the star began creating and acting humor while enrolled in performance at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” 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.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at open mics with her friend and uploading hilarious (and distinctly) weird skits online. One, Baby Cult, centered on several females intensely obsessed with motherhood; another portrayed working at the brand Hollister as similar to being caught in a scary movie. Interestingly, she met Emma through campus film circles and ultimately featuring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the intense thriller. The central motif of her career, she says, has been peers offering opportunities, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, adding with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Anyone who questioned about her then will surely be feeling foolish today. As part of she describes as a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she appears to achieved her dream vehicle. In 2019 she uploaded a clip called “it’s LA” online, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a series about city dwellers managing advantages of internet fame (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being suspected of being a substance-abusing thief, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). One might simple to make a show about internet celebrity that was extremely glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at its subjects. The series does neither, creating a portrait of advantaged young adult life that’s frank about the grot and the appeal.
Empathetic Approach
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
