The actress and writer on the uproarious show depicting that messy allure of Gen Z life
The star enters the digital interview and immediately begins an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, seeming really apologetic. Although she's only a couple of minutes late, she needs to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, during an interview, that’s precisely what one hopes to encounter. Additionally, it’s pretty expected. Viewers who know her fearlessly LGBTQ+ and outspoken project Bottoms—that she penned with Emma Seligman and appeared in alongside collaborator The Bear’s standout—will already know that Sennott holds much to say, whether on gender, intimacy, or the merits of starting a high-school combat group. Furthermore, after watching the latest seasonal show I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star holds even more thoughts on the darker side of modern youth (As a millennial, she serves as a relatable figure to younger audiences, straddling eras adept for bridging different age groups).
Influences and Creative Vision
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and Sennott is enthusiastic, citing the show together with the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as influences for I Love LA, which follows the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also new talent manager portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the largest presence on concept was reserved for Entourage, that HBO sitcom depicting an emerging Hollywood star succeeding in a corrupt entertainment industry (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott began viewing it amid the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and chose to create a new version 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 explains. The inspiration for this project originated—in part—from her own, initially fractious, relocation to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a much-talked-about occurrence for followers. That period marked a time that saw her grasp significant truths, work-wise and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Starting Out
Brought up in Connecticut, the star started creating and acting stand-up while studying acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She decided to act independently, taking the stage at amateur nights with Ayo and posting hysterical (and distinctly) bizarre comedy videos online. One, Baby Cult, centered on a group of women intensely obsessed with having babies; another portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being trapped in a scary movie. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through NYU’s movie community and eventually starring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the intense thriller. The big theme of her career, she says, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, as opposed to the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, continuing amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Rising Success
Those who had doubts about Sennott then will likely be regretting it today. In what she labels a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she appears to created her dream vehicle. In 2019 she posted a video titled on LA life on the internet, in which she parodied movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a series about city dwellers juggling advantages of internet fame (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your associate being labeled as being a substance-abusing criminal, and possibly becoming a unreliable persona non grata). Some could easy to make a series about internet celebrity that was overly idealized—or, worse, one that punched down at those depicted. I Love LA steers clear of each, making for a portrait of affluent young adult existence that’s honest about the chaos and the appeal.
Balanced Perspective
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” she comments. “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
