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The star joins the digital interview and at once begins an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, seeming really remorseful. Although she's only a couple of minutes late, she wants to explain. “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, this is just what you want to experience. Besides, it’s quite expected. Those who know the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and brash movie Bottoms—which she collaborated on with the director and featured in together with her friend The Bear’s standout—would already know that Sennott holds plenty to share, be it on roles, intimacy, or the appeal of forming a high-school combat group. Plus, after watching her recent multi-episode show I Love LA, viewers realize that the star has even more thoughts about the struggles of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, she is a bridge for this generation, on the cusp adept for connecting different age groups).

Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach

Parallels to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott is a fan, citing it together with the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as influences for her series, which details the struggles of online personality Tallulah and her friend and new representative Maia. Notably, the most significant influence on the moodboard was reserved for the HBO series, the show about a rising A-list actor navigating in a gritty Hollywood (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She started watching it throughout lockdown, became “obsessed”, and decided 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 I Love LA came—partly—from firsthand, initially difficult, transition to LA and from her cosmic event, a frequently discussed occurrence for enthusiasts. This represented a phase that included her grasp significant truths, work-wise and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”

Early Beginnings

Brought up in the East Coast, Sennott started writing and performing comedy while studying performance at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “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.”

Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at amateur nights with Ayo and uploading hilarious (and very) bizarre comedy videos on the internet. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted a group of women fetishistically fixated on motherhood; a different one envisioned being employed at the brand Hollister as similar to being caught in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she met Seligman through the university’s film scene and ended up appearing in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a religious event with shades of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her career, she explains, has been peers giving her a shot, rather than traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, continuing with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”

Rising Success

Anyone who had doubts about her then will likely be feeling foolish now. As part of she labels a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she appears to created the perfect project. Previously she uploaded a clip called “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she mocked film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a show about Angelenos managing the perks of online celebrity (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being labeled as being a intoxicated criminal, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). It would be easy to produce a program about internet celebrity that was horribly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at its subjects. I Love LA steers clear of each, creating a representation of advantaged millennial living that’s honest about the chaos and the appeal.

Nuanced Portrayal

“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