The actress and writer discussing the side-splitting series depicting the grotty appeal of today's youth lifestyle
The star appears on the video call and immediately begins an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, appearing truly apologetic. She is only a bit behind, she needs to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, in this context, that’s precisely what you want to hear. Additionally, it’s pretty unsurprising. Viewers who know her boldly LGBTQ+ and brash movie titled Bottoms—that Sennott penned with the director and starred in with close companion Ayo Edebiri—will understand that she has plenty to discuss, ranging from about gender, relationships, or the appeal of starting a teen brawl society. And, after watching her new multi-episode program I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries further perspectives regarding the darker side of Gen Z life (At 30, she represents an honorary member of the gang, a tale-end millennial adept for bridging both generations).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and the actress admits to being an admirer, citing the show together with the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as influences for the project, which details the journey of an influencer Tallulah and her friend and aspiring representative Maia. Notably, the most significant spot on creative vision belonged to the popular sitcom, that show about an emerging A-list actor succeeding in an often-seedy Hollywood (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it throughout lockdown, became “obsessed”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she says. The concept for I Love LA originated—in part—from personal, at first fractious, relocation to Tinseltown and from the astrological phase, a popular event for enthusiasts. It was an era that involved her grasp some big life lessons, professionally and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott started writing and performing humor while studying theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “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 seized control, appearing at amateur nights with Ayo and posting hilarious (and decidedly) unconventional skits digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women obsessively drawn to pregnancy; a different one portrayed working at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being stuck in a scary movie. By chance, she encountered Seligman through the university’s film scene and eventually starring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the intense thriller. The central motif of her path, she explains, has been peers giving her a shot, as opposed to the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she confirms, continuing amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Rising Success
Those who questioned about Sennott earlier will likely be kicking themselves now. In what she labels a “incredibly circular” story, she has created the perfect project. In 2019 she uploaded a clip named on LA life online, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a show about LA residents balancing advantages of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your client being suspected of being a intoxicated criminal, and potentially becoming a risky outcast). One might easy to make a program about internet celebrity that was overly idealized—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at its subjects. I Love LA avoids both, resulting in a depiction of advantaged twentysomething living that’s candid about the grot and the shine.
Empathetic Approach
“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