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The star appears on the video call and right away begins an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, seeming genuinely regretful. Despite being only a bit behind, she feels compelled to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, during an interview, this is precisely what one hopes to hear. Additionally, it’s pretty expected. Those who know the boldly queer and outspoken project Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with her creative partner and starred in together with close companion Ayo Edebiri—will understand that she has a lot to say, be it on gender, sex, or the merits of forming a high-school brawl society. Furthermore, after watching her latest seasonal program titled I Love LA, it is clear that she carries additional insights regarding the struggles of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, she represents a bridge to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial adept for bridging both generations).

Inspirations and Artistic Direction

Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and Sennott is enthusiastic, citing it together with Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as influences for the project, which tracks the struggles of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and new agent Maia. Notably, the most significant spot on creative vision belonged to Entourage, the HBO sitcom focusing on an up-and-coming Hollywood star succeeding in a corrupt Hollywood (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it during COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and decided to put her own twist 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 notes. The concept for the series originated—to some extent—from personal, at first difficult, relocation to Los Angeles and from the cosmic event, a frequently discussed occurrence for enthusiasts. That period marked a time that involved her learn some big life lessons, in her career and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”

Starting Out

Raised in New England, Sennott began developing and showcasing humor while enrolled in performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” 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 seized control, taking the stage at amateur nights with Edebiri and posting hilarious (and distinctly) weird skits on the internet. One, Baby Cult, followed characters intensely fixated on having babies; a different one envisioned working at the brand Hollister as similar to being trapped in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she met Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her career, she notes, has been people her own age supporting her, instead of established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, stating with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Rising Success

Individuals who were skeptical about Sennott then will certainly be feeling foolish now. In what she describes as a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she has achieved her dream vehicle. In 2019 she shared content named about Los Angeles online, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a series about LA residents juggling advantages of online celebrity (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a intoxicated criminal, and potentially becoming a risky outcast). One might tempting to produce a show about digital influence that was extremely aspirational—or, more problematic, one that punched down at its subjects. I Love LA does neither, making for a depiction of affluent young adult existence that’s frank about the mess and the shine.

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