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The performer appears on the video call and right away begins an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, appearing truly apologetic. Although she's only slightly delayed, she needs to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, during an interview, this is exactly what one hopes to hear. Additionally, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone familiar with her fearlessly openly gay and outspoken project titled Bottoms—that Sennott penned with the director and featured in with her friend The Bear’s standout—will already know that she has a lot to say, whether on gender, sex, or the merits of forming a youth combat group. Plus, once you finish the new seasonal program I Love LA, it is clear that she carries additional thoughts about the struggles of modern youth (As a millennial, Sennott represents a relatable figure of the gang, on the cusp adept for straddling different age groups).

Inspirations and Storytelling Approach

Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, citing the show alongside Sex and the City, Insecure and the innovative program as influences for I Love LA, which tracks the struggles of a social media star Tallulah and ally and aspiring agent Sennott’s character. However, the biggest presence on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, the show depicting an emerging Hollywood star succeeding in a corrupt Hollywood (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott discovered it during lockdown, became “obsessed”, and resolved to create a new version on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.

“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The inspiration for I Love LA emerged—partly—from personal, at first fractious, relocation to LA and from the cosmic event, a popular event for enthusiasts. That period marked a phase that involved her learn some big insights, professionally and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “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 the East Coast, Sennott commenced 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 states. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

She took matters into her own hands, appearing at amateur nights with Ayo and posting uproarious (and decidedly) weird comedy videos digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on a group of women fetishistically fixated on pregnancy; a different one portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being stuck in a horror film. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through campus film circles and eventually featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a religious event with hints of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she says, has been peers offering opportunities, instead of traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, continuing amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Rising Success

Those who questioned regarding her earlier will surely be feeling foolish today. As part of she describes as a “wild, full-circle” story, she seems to have achieved an ideal role. Previously she shared a clip called on LA life online, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about Angelenos managing the perks of digital stardom (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a intoxicated stealer, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). It would be simple to create a series about online fame that was overly idealized—or, worse, one that punched down at those depicted. The series does neither, resulting in a depiction of advantaged young adult existence that’s candid about the grot and the appeal.

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 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