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The performer appears on the online meeting and immediately begins an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, seeming truly regretful. Despite being only a bit delayed, 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, during an interview, that’s just what one hopes to experience. Additionally, it’s pretty unsurprising. Those familiar with her fearlessly queer and brash movie titled Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and featured in alongside collaborator the talented actress—would already know that Sennott possesses much to say, be it about gender, sex, or the pros of creating a youth combat group. Furthermore, after watching the new multi-episode program I Love LA, viewers realize that she holds even more thoughts on the struggles of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, she is a relatable figure to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial adept for bridging millennials and Gen Z).

Guiding Lights and Creative Vision

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott is a fan, citing the show together with the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as inspirations for I Love LA, which tracks the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and new talent manager Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the biggest spot on the moodboard was reserved for the HBO series, the show focusing on an up-and-coming celebrity navigating in a corrupt Hollywood (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott began viewing it during lockdown, became “hooked”, and resolved to create a new version 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 idea for the series originated—partly—from personal, originally fractious, move to LA and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about phenomenon for followers. It was an era that saw her grasp major insights, work-wise and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” 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 New England, Sennott began developing and showcasing comedy while pursuing performance at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “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 took matters into her own hands, appearing at amateur nights with Edebiri and uploading uproarious (and decidedly) unconventional skits online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters fetishistically fixated on having babies; another imagined working at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being caught in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she met Emma through NYU’s movie community and eventually featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a religious event with echoes of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her career, she says, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, as opposed to traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, continuing with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Manifesting Dreams

Those who had doubts about her previously will certainly be kicking themselves today. As part of she calls a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she seems to have achieved an ideal role. Previously she shared a video titled “it’s LA” online, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a series about city dwellers managing benefits of digital stardom (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being accused of being a intoxicated criminal, and possibly becoming a unreliable outcast). It would be easy to produce a series about internet celebrity that was horribly idealized—or, more problematic, one that punched down at those depicted. I Love LA avoids both, making for a portrait of affluent twentysomething living that’s honest about the mess and the appeal.

Nuanced Portrayal

“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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