The star appears on the video call and right away begins an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, appearing really regretful. Although she's only a couple of minutes delayed, she needs to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, for a writer, that’s precisely what is ideal to experience. Additionally, it’s quite unsurprising. Those who know the fearlessly openly gay and outspoken film Bottoms—which she collaborated on with the director and featured in together with close companion the talented actress—will already know that she holds much to say, whether on roles, intimacy, or the appeal of creating a youth fight club. And, once you finish the new seasonal show titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she has even more perspectives regarding the challenges of modern youth (Now in her thirties, she is a relatable figure for this generation, straddling eras adept for connecting different age groups).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and Sennott is a fan, citing it alongside Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as inspirations for her series, which follows the journey of a social media star Tallulah and her friend and new agent Sennott’s character. Notably, the most significant spot on concept went to the popular sitcom, the program about a rising Hollywood star succeeding in an often-seedy LA scene (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it throughout lockdown, became “hooked”, and decided to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she notes. The idea for this project emerged—in part—from personal, initially fractious, move to LA and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about occurrence for followers. It was a phase that involved her learn some big life lessons, work-wise and personally. “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. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Starting Out
Brought up in New England, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing comedy while enrolled in 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.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She decided to act independently, taking the stage at open mics with Edebiri and posting hysterical (and distinctly) weird online content on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women obsessively obsessed with having babies; another imagined being employed at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being stuck in a scary movie. Interestingly, she encountered Emma through the university’s film scene and eventually starring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her journey, she says, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, instead of the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, stating amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who had doubts about Sennott previously will certainly be feeling foolish now. Through she labels a “incredibly circular” story, she has achieved the perfect project. A few years back she shared a video called “it’s LA” online, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about LA residents juggling benefits of online celebrity (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being accused of being a substance-abusing criminal, and perhaps becoming a unreliable outcast). One might tempting to create a series about internet celebrity that was extremely aspirational—or, more problematic, one that belittled at its subjects. This show does neither, creating a portrait of privileged twentysomething life that’s candid about the grot and the shine.
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 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
