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The performer appears on the online meeting and immediately launches into an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, sounding truly remorseful. Despite being only a bit delayed, 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!” Thankfully, in this context, this is precisely what is ideal to encounter. Additionally, it’s pretty expected. Anyone who have seen her fearlessly LGBTQ+ and outspoken movie titled Bottoms—which she penned with the director and appeared in with her friend the talented actress—will be aware that she holds much to say, be it about identity, sex, or the appeal of starting a high-school fight club. Plus, by the end her recent multi-episode program titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star has even more thoughts regarding the challenges of Gen Z life (As a millennial, Sennott serves as a bridge to younger audiences, straddling eras with a knack for connecting different age groups).

Influences and Storytelling Approach

Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and the actress readily acknowledges a fan, citing the show in addition to the classic series, Insecure and Atlanta as influences for her series, which details the travails of a social media star Tallulah and her friend and aspiring agent Sennott’s character. Notably, the biggest presence on creative vision went to Entourage, that show about a rising Hollywood star succeeding in a gritty Hollywood (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She discovered it throughout the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and resolved to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.

“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she notes. The concept for I Love LA originated—in part—from firsthand, initially rocky, transition to Tinseltown and from her saturn return, a much-talked-about phenomenon for followers. This represented a phase that saw her grasp some big insights, professionally and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”

Starting Out

Raised in New England, Sennott began developing and showcasing humor while enrolled in performance at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”

Sennott seized control, performing at live shows with her friend and uploading hilarious (and very) unconventional online content online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters obsessively fixated on motherhood; a different one portrayed working at the brand Hollister as similar to being caught in a scary movie. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through NYU’s movie community and eventually starring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a religious event with shades of the intense thriller. The big theme of her journey, she notes, has been people her own age giving her a shot, instead of the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, adding amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”

Manifesting Dreams

Individuals who had doubts regarding her previously will surely be regretting it today. Through she calls a “wild, full-circle” development, she appears to created an ideal role. A few years back she uploaded content titled “it’s LA” online, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a show about city dwellers juggling the perks of digital stardom (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being labeled as being a substance-abusing stealer, and perhaps becoming a risky pariah). It would be easy to make a series about digital influence that was overly idealized—or, worse, one that punched down at those depicted. The series avoids both, resulting in a representation of advantaged twentysomething life that’s honest about the grot and the glamour.

Nuanced Portrayal

“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