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The star joins the video call and right away launches into an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, sounding genuinely regretful. She is only slightly late, she wants to clarify. “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!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s precisely what is ideal to hear. Additionally, it’s pretty predictable. Viewers who have seen the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and brash movie Bottoms—which Sennott penned with her creative partner and starred in with her friend The Bear’s standout—would understand that she possesses much to discuss, whether about roles, intimacy, or the appeal of forming a youth brawl society. Plus, by the end her new multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that she has additional perspectives regarding the struggles of Gen Z life (At 30, Sennott represents a bridge to younger audiences, straddling eras skilled for bridging both generations).

Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach

Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott is a fan, referencing the show alongside Sex and the City, Insecure and Atlanta as inspirations for the project, which follows the struggles of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and aspiring representative Maia. However, the most significant presence on creative vision was reserved for the HBO series, the program about an up-and-coming A-list actor succeeding in a corrupt LA scene (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She started watching it throughout the pandemic, became “captivated”, and chose to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.

“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The concept for this project emerged—partly—from firsthand, at first difficult, transition to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a much-talked-about phenomenon for astrology heads. This represented an era that saw her understand some big insights, professionally and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”

Early Beginnings

Brought up in Connecticut, the star began writing and performing stand-up while pursuing theatre at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”

Sennott decided to act independently, taking the stage at open mics with Ayo and sharing hysterical (and very) unconventional comedy videos on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters intensely fixated on motherhood; a different one imagined being employed at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being caught in a horror film. By chance, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and ended up starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her journey, she notes, has been peers offering opportunities, as opposed to traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she repeats, stating with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Manifesting Dreams

Those who had doubts about Sennott earlier will certainly be feeling foolish currently. As part of she labels a “wild, full-circle” development, she has manifested the perfect project. In 2019 she posted a clip named on LA life on the internet, in which she lampooned film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a show about city dwellers managing benefits of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your client being accused of being a intoxicated stealer, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). One might tempting to create a show about internet celebrity that was extremely aspirational—or, more problematic, one that mocked at the characters. I Love LA steers clear of each, making for a representation of privileged young adult living that’s candid about the grot and the shine.

Nuanced Portrayal

“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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