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The performer appears on the video call and right away launches into an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, seeming genuinely regretful. Despite being only slightly late, she feels compelled to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Fortunately, in this context, that’s exactly what you want to hear. Moreover, it’s fairly predictable. Viewers familiar with the unapologetically openly gay and brash project Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and starred in alongside her friend Ayo Edebiri—would be aware that she possesses a lot to discuss, be it about roles, sex, or the merits of forming a high-school combat group. Plus, by the end the new eight-part show I Love LA, viewers realize that the star carries further insights regarding the challenges of young adulthood (At 30, Sennott is a bridge to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial adept for bridging millennials and Gen Z).

Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction

Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and the actress is an admirer, citing it alongside the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as influences for I Love LA, which details the journey of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and fledgling talent manager Maia. Notably, the biggest influence on creative vision went to Entourage, that program depicting an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in an often-seedy LA scene (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott discovered it amid the pandemic, became “captivated”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.

“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she explains. The idea for this project came—in part—from her own, originally rocky, transition to LA and from the saturn return, a much-talked-about occurrence for enthusiasts. That period marked an era that saw her learn significant life lessons, work-wise and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”

Starting Out

Brought up in the East Coast, the star started writing and performing humor while studying acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

Sennott seized control, taking the stage at open mics with Edebiri and posting hilarious (and decidedly) weird online content on the internet. One, Baby Cult, depicted several females fetishistically drawn to motherhood; a different one portrayed working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being stuck in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Emma through NYU’s movie community and ultimately featuring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a religious event with echoes of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her journey, she notes, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she confirms, continuing amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”

Manifesting Dreams

Those who had doubts about Sennott then will surely be feeling foolish now. Through she describes as a “wild, full-circle” story, she seems to have created the perfect project. Previously she uploaded a clip called “it’s LA” online, in which she mocked movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a show about city dwellers managing benefits of digital stardom (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a drug-addled criminal, and perhaps becoming a unreliable pariah). It would be simple to produce a show about online fame that was horribly idealized—or, worse, one that mocked at those depicted. The series does neither, making for a depiction of privileged millennial existence that’s honest about the mess and the appeal.

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 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