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The performer enters the online meeting and immediately launches into an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, seeming really apologetic. Although she's only a couple of minutes delayed, 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!” Luckily, in this context, that’s exactly what one hopes to hear. Additionally, it’s fairly predictable. Viewers who have seen the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass film titled Bottoms—which she co-wrote with the director and appeared in alongside collaborator the talented actress—can be aware that Sennott holds a lot to share, ranging from on gender, sex, or the pros of creating a teen brawl society. Plus, by the end the new eight-part program titled I Love LA, it is clear that she has additional insights about the darker side of modern youth (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as an honorary member of the gang, on the cusp skilled for straddling both generations).

Influences and Storytelling Approach

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being a fan, citing the show alongside the classic series, Insecure and Atlanta as inspirations for the project, which tracks the journey of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and fledgling agent portrayed by Sennott. However, the biggest presence on the moodboard went to the HBO series, that program focusing on a rising celebrity succeeding in a gritty LA scene (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She started watching it during COVID-19, became “hooked”, and resolved 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 originated—partly—from her own, initially difficult, move to Tinseltown and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed event for astrology heads. It was a phase that saw her learn major life lessons, in her career and in private life. “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.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”

Humble Origins

Growing up in the East Coast, the star began creating and acting comedy while pursuing acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”

Sennott decided to act independently, performing at live shows with her friend and sharing hysterical (and decidedly) bizarre comedy videos digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on a group of women intensely fixated on motherhood; another portrayed being employed at a trendy retail outlet as like being trapped in a thriller. By chance, she encountered Emma through NYU’s movie community and ended up starring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a religious event with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her path, she notes, has been peers supporting her, rather than established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, stating amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”

Rising Success

Individuals who had doubts regarding Sennott previously will surely be feeling foolish today. Through she labels a “astonishingly complete” development, she has achieved her dream vehicle. In 2019 she shared a video called “it’s LA” online, in which she parodied film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about city dwellers managing benefits of internet fame (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being labeled as being a drug-addled stealer, and potentially becoming a risky pariah). One might simple to create a show about digital influence that was overly aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at the characters. I Love LA does neither, making for a portrait of privileged millennial existence that’s frank about the grot and the glamour.

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 says. “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