The star enters the online meeting and right away begins an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, appearing genuinely apologetic. Despite being only slightly behind, she feels compelled to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, for a writer, this is precisely what is ideal to hear. Additionally, it’s fairly predictable. Those who know the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and outspoken film titled Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and starred in together with collaborator The Bear’s standout—would already know that Sennott holds plenty to discuss, whether about identity, intimacy, or the pros of starting a high-school combat group. Plus, once you finish the new eight-part HBO series titled I Love LA, viewers realize that the star holds additional perspectives about the darker side of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott represents a bridge to younger audiences, on the cusp with a knack for straddling different age groups).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and the actress admits to being a fan, citing the show in addition to Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as influences for the project, which details the journey of a social media star Tallulah and her friend and new representative Maia. However, the most significant spot on the moodboard went to the popular sitcom, that HBO sitcom focusing on an up-and-coming celebrity navigating in a gritty Hollywood (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott began viewing it amid COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and resolved 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 notes. The concept for this project came—partly—from personal, at first difficult, move to LA and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about occurrence for followers. That period marked an era that included her understand some big life lessons, in her career and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Humble Origins
Raised in New England, the star began creating and acting stand-up while studying performance at NYU’s Tisch. “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. 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 decided to act independently, performing at open mics with her friend and posting hilarious (and very) bizarre skits on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted several females obsessively fixated on pregnancy; another portrayed working at the brand Hollister as similar to being trapped in a horror film. Interestingly, she met Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a funeral gathering with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, as opposed to traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, adding amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who had doubts regarding her earlier will certainly be feeling foolish now. In what she describes as a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she appears to created an ideal role. Previously she shared a clip named on LA life online, in which she lampooned film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a show about city dwellers managing advantages of digital stardom (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your friend being accused of being a intoxicated criminal, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). One might easy to create a show about online fame that was horribly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA steers clear of each, resulting in a depiction of affluent young adult living that’s candid 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 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
