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The performer enters the online meeting and right away launches into an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, seeming genuinely regretful. She is only a couple of minutes behind, she needs to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Fortunately, in this context, that’s precisely what one hopes to experience. Moreover, it’s quite predictable. Those who know her fearlessly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass film titled Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with Emma Seligman and appeared in alongside collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will already know that she possesses plenty to say, whether on roles, sex, or the merits of starting a teen fight club. Plus, once you finish her recent multi-episode HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she holds even more thoughts about the darker side of Gen Z life (As a millennial, Sennott is a bridge to younger audiences, straddling eras skilled for bridging different age groups).

Influences and Creative Vision

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and the actress admits to being an admirer, naming the show together with the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as guides for her series, which tracks the journey of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and new agent portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the biggest spot on the moodboard went to the popular sitcom, that program depicting a rising celebrity navigating in a corrupt LA scene (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it during the pandemic, became “captivated”, 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 I Love LA originated—in part—from her own, initially rocky, move to Tinseltown and from the astrological phase, a popular phenomenon for astrology heads. This represented an era that involved her learn significant truths, professionally and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”

Starting Out

Raised in Connecticut, the star started creating and acting stand-up while studying theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. 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 seized control, taking the stage at live shows with Ayo and sharing hilarious (and distinctly) weird skits on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed characters intensely drawn to pregnancy; another imagined being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being stuck in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Emma through NYU’s movie community and ultimately appearing in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her path, she explains, has been people her own age giving her a shot, rather than the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, adding with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Rising Success

Anyone who had doubts about her earlier will surely be regretting it today. In what she describes as a “incredibly circular” story, she has manifested her dream vehicle. Previously she uploaded a video titled “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a series about LA residents managing the perks of internet fame (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your client being accused of being a intoxicated stealer, and perhaps becoming a unreliable persona non grata). It would be tempting to create a program about digital influence that was horribly idealized—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at its subjects. I Love LA avoids both, creating a representation of affluent young adult life that’s honest about the grot and the appeal.

Nuanced Portrayal

“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