The actress and writer discussing her uproarious comedy portraying the messy glamour of today's youth life

The performer appears on the video call and at once begins an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, seeming genuinely apologetic. She is only a couple of minutes behind, she feels compelled to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s exactly what you want to encounter. Moreover, it’s fairly unsurprising. Viewers familiar with her boldly queer and outspoken film titled Bottoms—that she co-wrote with Emma Seligman and appeared in with her friend The Bear’s standout—will understand that she possesses a lot to discuss, be it on identity, sex, or the appeal of creating a teen fight club. Plus, once you finish the new eight-part show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she carries additional insights on the darker side of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott represents an honorary member for this generation, straddling eras adept for bridging millennials and Gen Z).

Guiding Lights and Creative Vision

Parallels to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is enthusiastic, referencing the show in addition to the HBO hit, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as influences for her series, which details the struggles of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also aspiring agent Maia. Perhaps, the largest influence on the moodboard was reserved for Entourage, the program depicting an up-and-coming A-list actor navigating in a corrupt LA scene (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She started watching it throughout the pandemic, became “captivated”, 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 says. The idea for this project came—to some extent—from personal, originally difficult, transition to LA and from the saturn return, a popular event for followers. This represented an era that included her understand significant truths, work-wise and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”

Starting Out

Growing up in the East Coast, the star started developing and showcasing stand-up while pursuing theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” 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 took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and sharing uproarious (and very) weird skits online. One, Baby Cult, followed several females fetishistically obsessed with having babies; a different one portrayed working at the brand Hollister as like being caught in a scary movie. Interestingly, she connected with Seligman through campus film circles and ended up featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the intense thriller. The central motif of her career, she explains, has been people her own age supporting her, instead of the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, continuing with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Career Breakthrough

Those who questioned about her then will certainly be feeling foolish now. Through she describes as a “astonishingly complete” story, she appears to created an ideal role. In 2019 she uploaded content called “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a show about LA residents managing the perks of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being labeled as being a substance-abusing stealer, and potentially becoming a risky outcast). Some could tempting to make a program about online fame that was extremely aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at those depicted. I Love LA does neither, creating a depiction of privileged twentysomething existence that’s honest about the chaos 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 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

Alison Cooper
Alison Cooper

A tech journalist and digital strategist with over a decade of experience covering emerging technologies and startup ecosystems.