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The performer enters the video call and at once starts an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, seeming genuinely regretful. Although she's only a bit late, she needs to justify. “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, for a writer, that’s precisely what you want to encounter. Additionally, it’s fairly expected. Anyone who know her unapologetically openly gay and outspoken movie titled Bottoms—that Sennott penned with the director and starred in together with collaborator The Bear’s standout—would understand that she has much to say, be it about roles, sex, or the appeal of creating a teen combat group. Plus, once you finish the latest eight-part HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star holds additional insights about the darker side of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she represents a bridge to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial with a knack for bridging both generations).

Guiding Lights and Creative Vision

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and the actress readily acknowledges a fan, citing it in addition to the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as inspirations for I Love LA, which details the struggles of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion who is also new talent manager Maia. However, the biggest spot on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, that program about a rising celebrity making his way in a gritty entertainment industry (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She started watching it amid lockdown, became “obsessed”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective 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 explains. The concept for this project originated—in part—from personal, originally fractious, relocation to Los Angeles and from the astrological phase, a popular phenomenon for astrology heads. This represented a time that involved her learn major truths, in her career and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Starting Out

Brought up in New England, the star began writing and performing humor while enrolled in performance at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “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. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”

She seized control, appearing at amateur nights with her friend and sharing uproarious (and very) bizarre online content online. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted several females intensely obsessed with pregnancy; a different one portrayed being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being trapped in a thriller. By chance, she connected with Seligman through the university’s film scene and ended up starring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a religious event with shades of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been peers supporting her, instead of established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she confirms, adding humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”

Manifesting Dreams

Anyone who had doubts about her previously will certainly be regretting it currently. Through she calls a “incredibly circular” story, she has achieved her dream vehicle. Previously she uploaded a video titled on LA life on social media, in which she parodied film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a show about Angelenos managing benefits of digital stardom (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being accused of being a drug-addled criminal, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). One might easy to make a series about digital influence that was extremely aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at those depicted. I Love LA avoids both, resulting in a portrait of advantaged young adult living that’s candid about the mess and the glamour.

Nuanced Portrayal

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