The star joins the online meeting and at once launches into an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, appearing truly regretful. Although she's only a bit behind, she wants to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s just what you want to hear. Additionally, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone familiar with her unapologetically queer and outspoken movie Bottoms—that she penned with Emma Seligman and featured in alongside close companion The Bear’s standout—would understand that Sennott possesses a lot to share, whether on gender, intimacy, or the merits of starting a youth fight club. And, once you finish her latest seasonal show titled I Love LA, viewers realize that the star carries even more insights about the challenges of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, Sennott represents an honorary member for this generation, a tale-end millennial adept for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott admits to being enthusiastic, citing the show together with the HBO hit, Insecure and the innovative program as inspirations for I Love LA, which follows the journey of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion who is also aspiring representative Sennott’s character. However, the largest presence on the moodboard went to the popular sitcom, that HBO sitcom focusing on a rising celebrity navigating in a corrupt LA scene (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it amid the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and chose to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she says. The idea for the series came—partly—from her own, initially difficult, relocation to Tinseltown and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about occurrence for astrology heads. That period marked a time that saw her grasp significant truths, professionally and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “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 commenced developing and showcasing stand-up while studying performance at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” 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. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott seized control, taking the stage at open mics with Ayo and uploading hysterical (and very) unconventional skits online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters fetishistically fixated on motherhood; a different one portrayed being employed at the brand Hollister as similar to being stuck in a scary movie. Interestingly, she connected with Emma through NYU’s movie community and eventually featuring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a Jewish wake with hints of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her journey, she says, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, instead of established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, continuing humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Rising Success
Individuals who had doubts about her earlier will certainly be feeling foolish today. In what she labels a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she appears to created the perfect project. In 2019 she uploaded a video titled on LA life on social media, in which she lampooned movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a series about Angelenos juggling the perks of internet fame (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your friend being accused of being a substance-abusing stealer, and perhaps becoming a risky outcast). Some could tempting to produce a series about online fame that was extremely idealized—or, worse, one that mocked at those depicted. This show does neither, resulting in a representation of affluent twentysomething existence that’s honest about the chaos and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
