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The star enters the digital interview and at once launches into an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, sounding genuinely remorseful. Despite being 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!” Fortunately, in this context, this is precisely what one hopes to experience. Additionally, it’s pretty unsurprising. Those familiar with the boldly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass film titled Bottoms—which she co-wrote with Emma Seligman and featured in with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will understand that Sennott possesses a lot to share, whether about roles, intimacy, or the merits of creating a high-school brawl society. And, once you finish the latest multi-episode program I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds even more insights on the darker side of modern youth (At 30, she is a relatable figure for this generation, on the cusp with a knack for bridging different age groups).

Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction

The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being enthusiastic, citing it together with the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as guides for the project, which follows the journey of a social media star Tallulah and ally who is also aspiring talent manager Maia. Perhaps, the biggest spot on the moodboard went to the HBO series, the show depicting a rising celebrity navigating in a gritty Hollywood (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it throughout COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and chose to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.

“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she notes. The inspiration for I Love LA came—in part—from her own, initially fractious, relocation to Los Angeles and from her cosmic event, a popular event for followers. It was a phase that included her learn some big life lessons, in her career and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. It was almost like these biblical tests …”

Starting Out

Raised in Connecticut, the star commenced writing and performing comedy while studying acting 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.” I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”

Sennott decided to act independently, taking the stage at open mics with Edebiri and posting hilarious (and distinctly) bizarre online content on the internet. One, Baby Cult, depicted several females obsessively drawn to pregnancy; another imagined working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being caught in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Seligman through the university’s film scene and eventually featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a religious event with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her path, she explains, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, rather than the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, continuing humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”

Career Breakthrough

Anyone who had doubts about her earlier will likely be feeling foolish currently. As part of she describes as a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she has created her dream vehicle. Previously she posted a video titled “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she mocked film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a series about Angelenos balancing the perks of digital stardom (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your client being labeled as being a drug-addled thief, and potentially becoming a unreliable pariah). It would be simple to create a show about internet celebrity that was extremely aspirational—or, more problematic, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA does neither, making for a portrait of advantaged twentysomething existence that’s honest about the grot and the shine.

Balanced Perspective

“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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