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The performer joins the online meeting and at once launches into an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, appearing truly apologetic. Although she's only a bit delayed, she needs to clarify. “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 exactly what you want to experience. Besides, it’s pretty predictable. Anyone who have seen her boldly queer and brash project titled Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and featured in alongside her friend Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that she has a lot to say, whether about identity, intimacy, or the appeal of creating a teen fight club. Plus, once you finish her new eight-part show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she holds additional insights about the struggles of Gen Z life (As a millennial, Sennott is a relatable figure to younger audiences, straddling eras skilled for bridging different age groups).

Guiding Lights and Creative Vision

The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and Sennott readily acknowledges a fan, naming the show alongside Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as guides for the project, which follows the travails of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and new talent manager Sennott’s character. Notably, the largest influence on creative vision belonged to the HBO series, the show focusing on an emerging A-list actor making his way in an often-seedy LA scene (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott discovered it during COVID-19, became “captivated”, and chose to create a new version 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 inspiration for this project came—in part—from her own, initially fractious, transition to LA and from her saturn return, a frequently discussed occurrence for astrology heads. It was a phase that involved her learn some big life lessons, in her career and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “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…”

Humble Origins

Raised in Connecticut, Sennott commenced creating and acting humor while studying theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

Sennott decided to act independently, performing at live shows with Ayo and uploading uproarious (and very) bizarre skits online. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on several females obsessively fixated on having babies; a different one portrayed being employed at the brand Hollister as similar to being stuck in a scary movie. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ended up featuring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a religious event with echoes of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her career, she explains, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, rather than traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, stating with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”

Manifesting Dreams

Individuals who had doubts about Sennott previously will likely be kicking themselves currently. Through she calls a “astonishingly complete” story, she appears to manifested the perfect project. Previously she posted a video named “it’s LA” on social media, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a series about Angelenos balancing the perks of online celebrity (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your client being accused of being a substance-abusing thief, and perhaps becoming a risky persona non grata). It would be simple to produce a series about online fame that was overly aspirational—or, worse, one that punched down at its subjects. This show avoids both, making for a depiction of privileged young adult life 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