The performer joins the video call and immediately starts an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, seeming truly apologetic. Despite being only slightly late, she wants to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, during an interview, this is just what one hopes to hear. Additionally, it’s pretty unsurprising. Viewers who know the fearlessly openly gay and outspoken project Bottoms—that she penned with her creative partner and appeared in together with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—would be aware that Sennott has a lot to discuss, whether about identity, sex, or the appeal of starting a high-school brawl society. And, after watching the latest seasonal program I Love LA, viewers realize that the star has further perspectives regarding the darker side of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott is a relatable figure of the gang, straddling eras adept for straddling different age groups).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott admits to being a fan, referencing the show in addition to the classic series, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for her series, which follows the journey of online personality Tallulah and her friend who is also aspiring agent portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the biggest presence on concept went to the HBO series, the HBO sitcom about an emerging Hollywood star making his way in a corrupt LA scene (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it during the pandemic, became “hooked”, 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 explains. The idea for the series came—in part—from personal, at first rocky, relocation to Los Angeles and from the cosmic event, a frequently discussed phenomenon for astrology heads. That period marked a phase that included her learn major truths, work-wise and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Raised in the East Coast, Sennott commenced writing and performing stand-up while studying performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at live shows with Ayo and sharing uproarious (and very) unconventional comedy videos digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters fetishistically obsessed with motherhood; a different one imagined working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being trapped in a scary movie. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through the university’s film scene and eventually appearing in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a Jewish wake with shades of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her career, she notes, has been contemporaries supporting her, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, stating amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who questioned about Sennott earlier will surely be regretting it currently. As part of she labels a “astonishingly complete” development, she has manifested the perfect project. A few years back she posted a video called about Los Angeles online, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a show about LA residents balancing the perks of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being accused of being a substance-abusing criminal, and potentially becoming a unreliable persona non grata). It would be tempting to create a program about internet celebrity that was overly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that mocked at its subjects. I Love LA avoids both, making for a representation of privileged young adult existence that’s frank about the chaos and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
