The performer joins the video call and at once begins an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, seeming really remorseful. She is only slightly behind, she wants to justify. “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, during an interview, that’s exactly what you want to experience. Additionally, it’s fairly expected. Those familiar with her boldly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass movie titled Bottoms—which she penned with her creative partner and starred in together with close companion The Bear’s standout—will understand that she holds plenty to say, whether on roles, relationships, or the pros of creating a youth fight club. Furthermore, by the end her recent eight-part show I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has additional insights about the struggles of modern youth (As a millennial, she serves as a relatable figure for this generation, on the cusp skilled for bridging both generations).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being a fan, referencing it alongside Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as influences for I Love LA, which follows the journey of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also aspiring talent manager Maia. Perhaps, the most significant influence on concept went to the HBO series, the HBO sitcom about a rising celebrity making his way in a gritty LA scene (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it throughout the pandemic, became “captivated”, and decided to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The idea for I Love LA came—partly—from her own, at first difficult, relocation to Tinseltown and from her astrological phase, a popular phenomenon for astrology heads. This represented an era that involved her grasp major insights, work-wise and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Starting Out
Growing up in New England, the star began writing and performing comedy while pursuing acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at live shows with her friend and uploading uproarious (and very) weird online content digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women obsessively drawn to having babies; a different one portrayed working at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being caught in a thriller. Interestingly, she met Emma through the university’s film scene and eventually featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a funeral gathering with hints of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she says, has been people her own age supporting her, instead of traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, adding with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Those who had doubts regarding Sennott then will likely be feeling foolish today. As part of she labels a “incredibly circular” story, she appears to created the perfect project. In 2019 she uploaded content titled about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she parodied film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a comedy about Angelenos balancing advantages of digital stardom (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your friend being suspected of being a drug-addled thief, and possibly becoming a unreliable persona non grata). Some could easy to produce a program about internet celebrity that was overly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA avoids both, resulting in a representation of privileged young adult life that’s honest about the chaos and the shine.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
