The star joins the digital interview and immediately launches into an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, seeming truly remorseful. Although she's only slightly delayed, she feels compelled to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, during an interview, this is exactly what one hopes to encounter. Besides, it’s fairly expected. Viewers familiar with her fearlessly queer and outspoken film Bottoms—that she collaborated on with the director and starred in with close companion Ayo Edebiri—would be aware that she possesses plenty to say, be it on roles, intimacy, or the appeal of starting a high-school fight club. And, by the end the latest eight-part program titled I Love LA, viewers realize that the star holds additional insights about the challenges of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, she serves as a relatable figure to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial with a knack for straddling different age groups).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and the actress is an admirer, referencing it alongside Sex and the City, Insecure and Atlanta as guides for I Love LA, which tracks the travails of an influencer Tallulah and ally and new representative portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the most significant influence on creative vision went to Entourage, that program about a rising celebrity navigating in an often-seedy Hollywood (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She began viewing it throughout lockdown, became “obsessed”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she says. The inspiration for the series came—to some extent—from firsthand, originally fractious, relocation to Tinseltown and from her saturn return, a frequently discussed phenomenon for astrology heads. This represented a time that saw her learn major truths, professionally and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Humble Origins
Brought up in the East Coast, Sennott started developing and showcasing comedy while studying performance at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, appearing at live shows with Edebiri and uploading uproarious (and very) bizarre comedy videos online. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted a group of women intensely obsessed with pregnancy; a different one portrayed being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being caught in a horror film. By chance, she encountered Emma through NYU’s movie community and eventually appearing in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a funeral gathering with echoes of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her career, she notes, has been peers supporting her, as opposed to traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, adding humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who had doubts regarding her earlier will surely be kicking themselves currently. Through she labels a “incredibly circular” story, she has achieved her dream vehicle. In 2019 she posted a video called “it’s LA” on social media, in which she mocked film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a show about city dwellers balancing advantages of digital stardom (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being labeled as being a drug-addled stealer, and potentially becoming a unreliable persona non grata). One might easy to make a show about digital influence that was overly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that mocked at those depicted. The series steers clear of each, creating a representation of advantaged young adult existence that’s candid about the mess and the appeal.
Balanced Perspective
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
