The star appears on the digital interview and immediately begins an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, appearing really regretful. She is only slightly delayed, she needs to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s precisely what is ideal to experience. Besides, it’s pretty unsurprising. Anyone who know her boldly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and appeared in alongside collaborator Ayo Edebiri—can already know that Sennott holds a lot to share, whether about identity, relationships, or the merits of forming a youth brawl society. And, after watching the new eight-part program I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she holds even more perspectives regarding the darker side of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, she represents a bridge to younger audiences, straddling eras with a knack for connecting different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and Sennott readily acknowledges enthusiastic, citing the show alongside Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as guides for the project, which follows the travails of an influencer Tallulah and her friend and fledgling representative portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the biggest spot on creative vision belonged to Entourage, the program depicting an emerging celebrity making his way in a corrupt Hollywood (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She discovered it during COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and decided to add a fresh perspective on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she explains. The idea for this project emerged—to some extent—from her own, originally difficult, transition to Tinseltown and from the astrological phase, a much-talked-about phenomenon for astrology heads. It was an era that included her learn major truths, professionally and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “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…”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in Connecticut, Sennott began creating and acting humor while pursuing acting at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She took matters into her own hands, appearing at amateur nights with her friend and uploading uproarious (and distinctly) bizarre online content on the internet. One, Baby Cult, centered on characters fetishistically obsessed with motherhood; another imagined being employed at a trendy retail outlet as like being trapped in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a Jewish wake with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her journey, she says, has been contemporaries supporting her, as opposed to traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, continuing with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who had doubts regarding Sennott previously will certainly be regretting it today. Through she labels a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she appears to manifested an ideal role. Previously she posted content named about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a comedy about city dwellers managing benefits of internet fame (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being labeled as being a intoxicated thief, and potentially becoming a risky pariah). It would be simple to create a program about online fame that was extremely idealized—or, worse, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA avoids both, resulting in a portrait of privileged twentysomething living that’s honest about the chaos and the appeal.
Empathetic Approach
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” she observes. “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
