🔗 Share this article

The performer joins the video call and at once launches into an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, appearing really apologetic. She is only a couple of minutes behind, she feels compelled to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, in this context, this is just what you want to hear. Moreover, it’s pretty unsurprising. Anyone familiar with her fearlessly queer and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—which Sennott penned with the director and starred in alongside collaborator the talented actress—would understand that Sennott has a lot to say, whether about identity, sex, or the merits of creating a high-school fight club. Plus, after watching her latest seasonal show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star has further thoughts on the darker side of modern youth (At 30, Sennott represents a bridge for this generation, straddling eras adept for connecting both generations).

Inspirations and Artistic Direction

Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and the actress is an admirer, referencing it alongside the classic series, Insecure and Atlanta as guides for her series, which follows the journey of online personality Tallulah and close companion who is also fledgling talent manager Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the largest influence on the moodboard went to Entourage, that program focusing on an emerging Hollywood star navigating in an often-seedy Hollywood (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it during lockdown, became “hooked”, and decided to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.

“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she explains. The inspiration for this project came—to some extent—from personal, initially fractious, relocation to Los Angeles and from her cosmic event, a much-talked-about event for enthusiasts. It was a phase that involved her grasp significant truths, professionally and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Starting Out

Raised in the East Coast, Sennott commenced writing and performing humor while studying acting at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “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, performing at amateur nights with Ayo and posting hilarious (and decidedly) weird skits online. One, Baby Cult, followed a group of women intensely fixated on pregnancy; a different one imagined working at the brand Hollister as akin to being trapped in a horror film. By chance, she met Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ended up starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she explains, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, instead of established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, adding amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Career Breakthrough

Anyone who were skeptical about her earlier will certainly be kicking themselves currently. Through she describes as a “incredibly circular” development, she has manifested her dream vehicle. In 2019 she shared a clip titled “it’s LA” on social media, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about LA residents balancing benefits of digital stardom (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being labeled as being a substance-abusing stealer, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). Some could simple to produce a show about internet celebrity that was overly glamorous—or, worse, one that belittled at its subjects. I Love LA steers clear of each, creating a representation of affluent millennial living that’s frank about the chaos and the glamour.

Nuanced Portrayal

“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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