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The performer enters the video call and at once launches into an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, sounding really apologetic. Although she's only slightly behind, she wants to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, in this context, that’s just what you want to experience. Additionally, it’s quite unsurprising. Those familiar with her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass movie titled Bottoms—which she collaborated on with her creative partner and appeared in alongside her friend Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that Sennott possesses much to discuss, ranging from about gender, intimacy, or the pros of forming a high-school combat group. And, by the end the new multi-episode HBO series I Love LA, it is clear that the star has further thoughts on the struggles of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, Sennott represents an honorary member to younger audiences, on the cusp skilled for connecting different age groups).

Inspirations and Artistic Direction

Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being a fan, naming it together with the HBO hit, Insecure and the innovative program as guides for her series, which follows the struggles of an influencer Tallulah and ally and fledgling representative Maia. However, the biggest influence on the moodboard belonged to the HBO series, the HBO sitcom depicting an up-and-coming Hollywood star making his way in an often-seedy entertainment industry (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott discovered it during COVID-19, became “obsessed”, 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 concept for this project originated—partly—from firsthand, initially fractious, move to Tinseltown and from her saturn return, a popular occurrence for astrology heads. This represented a time that saw her grasp some big insights, in her career and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”

Humble Origins

Growing up in Connecticut, Sennott began writing and performing stand-up while pursuing acting at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

She decided to act independently, appearing at live shows with her friend and posting uproarious (and very) bizarre comedy videos digitally. One, Baby Cult, centered on characters obsessively obsessed with pregnancy; a different one envisioned being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being trapped in a scary movie. Interestingly, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and eventually starring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a religious event with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her path, she explains, has been people her own age offering opportunities, rather than traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she repeats, adding humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Rising Success

Anyone who were skeptical about Sennott previously will certainly be kicking themselves currently. As part of she calls a “astonishingly complete” development, she seems to have achieved her dream vehicle. In 2019 she uploaded content called about Los Angeles online, in which she parodied film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about city dwellers balancing benefits of online celebrity (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your client being accused of being a drug-addled criminal, and possibly becoming a unreliable persona non grata). Some could tempting to produce a show about internet celebrity that was extremely glamorous—or, more problematic, one that punched down at those depicted. I Love LA avoids both, making for a depiction of privileged twentysomething living that’s frank about the chaos 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 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