The performer appears on the video call and immediately begins an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, sounding really regretful. She is only a couple of minutes behind, she needs to explain. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, in this context, this is exactly what one hopes to encounter. Moreover, it’s pretty predictable. Those who have seen her unapologetically openly gay and outspoken project titled Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with her creative partner and featured in together with close companion Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that Sennott holds plenty to say, whether on identity, intimacy, or the pros of creating a youth brawl society. And, once you finish the recent multi-episode program I Love LA, it is clear that she carries even more perspectives about the darker side of young adulthood (As a millennial, she is a relatable figure to younger audiences, on the cusp adept for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is a fan, citing it in addition to Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as guides for her series, which tracks the travails of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also fledgling representative Maia. Perhaps, the most significant spot on creative vision went to Entourage, the program depicting an emerging Hollywood star succeeding in a gritty LA scene (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She discovered it amid the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and chose to put her own twist 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 says. The idea for I Love LA emerged—in part—from firsthand, initially fractious, transition to Tinseltown and from the saturn return, a popular phenomenon for followers. It was a phase that included her understand major insights, in her career 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.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott started developing and showcasing stand-up while studying theatre at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at live shows with Ayo and uploading hilarious (and very) weird online content on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on characters obsessively drawn to having babies; a different one imagined working at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being caught in a horror film. By chance, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and eventually appearing in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been people her own age supporting her, instead of traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, continuing amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who questioned regarding Sennott previously will certainly be regretting it currently. Through she describes as a “wild, full-circle” development, she seems to have created her dream vehicle. A few years back she uploaded a video titled about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she parodied film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a series about city dwellers balancing benefits of digital stardom (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your client being labeled as being a substance-abusing criminal, and potentially becoming a unreliable persona non grata). Some could easy to create a series about internet celebrity that was overly aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at those depicted. I Love LA avoids both, creating a depiction of privileged young adult living that’s candid about the mess and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
