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The star enters the digital interview and right away launches into an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, seeming really apologetic. Although she's only a couple of minutes late, she wants 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!” Thankfully, for a writer, this is precisely what one hopes to hear. Moreover, it’s quite unsurprising. Those who know her unapologetically openly gay and unapologetically crass movie titled Bottoms—that she collaborated on with her creative partner and starred in together with close companion Ayo Edebiri—can already know that she has a lot to discuss, whether on roles, relationships, or the appeal of forming a teen combat group. Plus, once you finish the latest seasonal HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star holds further insights on the struggles of modern youth (Now in her thirties, she serves as an honorary member to younger audiences, on the cusp adept for connecting different age groups).

Inspirations and Artistic Direction

Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott is a fan, naming the show alongside the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as inspirations for her series, which tracks the travails of an influencer Tallulah and ally who is also new agent Maia. Notably, the most significant influence on creative vision belonged to the HBO series, the show focusing on an up-and-coming celebrity making his way in a gritty Hollywood (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott began viewing it throughout the pandemic, became “captivated”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.

“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 emerged—partly—from personal, at first difficult, move to LA and from her cosmic event, a popular occurrence for enthusiasts. That period marked a time that saw her grasp major truths, work-wise and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” 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…”

Starting Out

Brought up in New England, the star commenced creating and acting comedy while pursuing theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”

Sennott decided to act independently, performing at amateur nights with Ayo and uploading hysterical (and decidedly) unconventional skits digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted a group of women intensely fixated on having babies; a different one portrayed being employed at the brand Hollister as similar to being stuck in a horror film. By chance, she connected with Seligman through campus film circles and eventually featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a religious event with echoes of the intense thriller. The big theme of her career, she notes, has been people her own age supporting her, as opposed to the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she confirms, continuing humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”

Manifesting Dreams

Those who had doubts regarding her earlier will certainly be feeling foolish today. In what she describes as a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she appears to achieved an ideal role. Previously she shared a clip called “it’s LA” on social media, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a comedy about LA residents balancing the perks of internet fame (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your friend being suspected of being a drug-addled thief, and potentially becoming a unreliable pariah). Some could simple to make a program about digital influence that was overly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that punched down at the characters. I Love LA does neither, making for a depiction of affluent young adult existence that’s candid about the mess and the appeal.

Empathetic Approach

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