The star enters the online meeting and right away starts an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, sounding truly regretful. Although she's only a bit delayed, she needs to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, for a writer, this is precisely what you want to hear. Additionally, it’s quite unsurprising. Those who have seen the unapologetically queer and brash film Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and starred in with close companion Ayo Edebiri—will already know that she has much to say, whether about roles, sex, or the pros of starting a high-school brawl society. Furthermore, by the end the new multi-episode show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star has additional insights on the struggles of modern youth (At 30, Sennott represents an honorary member for this generation, a tale-end millennial adept for straddling different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and the actress readily acknowledges enthusiastic, citing the show in addition to Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as guides for the project, which tracks the journey of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also aspiring talent manager portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the biggest influence on the moodboard was reserved for the HBO series, the show depicting an emerging A-list actor navigating in an often-seedy entertainment industry (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She discovered it during lockdown, became “obsessed”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she explains. The inspiration for the series came—partly—from personal, originally difficult, relocation to Tinseltown and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed occurrence for astrology heads. This represented a time that saw her understand major insights, 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…”
Humble Origins
Growing up in Connecticut, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing comedy while studying performance at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at open mics with her friend and sharing uproarious (and distinctly) weird comedy videos digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted characters intensely drawn to motherhood; another portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being stuck in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Emma through NYU’s movie community and ended up starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she explains, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, instead of the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, adding amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who had doubts regarding Sennott previously will certainly be regretting it currently. In what she calls a “incredibly circular” story, she seems to have achieved the perfect project. A few years back she uploaded a video named on LA life on social media, in which she parodied film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a show about LA residents managing benefits of online celebrity (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being accused of being a intoxicated stealer, and potentially becoming a unreliable pariah). It would be simple to make a series about internet celebrity that was horribly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA does neither, making for a representation of privileged young adult life that’s candid about the chaos and the shine.
Empathetic Approach
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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
