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The star appears on the video call and immediately starts an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, appearing truly remorseful. Although she's only a couple of minutes late, she wants to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, for a writer, this is exactly what you want to hear. Additionally, it’s quite predictable. Anyone familiar with her fearlessly queer and outspoken movie titled Bottoms—which she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and featured in together with close companion Ayo Edebiri—can already know that Sennott has plenty to discuss, whether on gender, intimacy, or the pros of creating a youth brawl society. And, once you finish the latest multi-episode HBO series I Love LA, it is clear that she carries further perspectives about the struggles of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as a relatable figure of the gang, straddling eras adept for straddling millennials and Gen Z).

Influences and Storytelling Approach

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and Sennott is enthusiastic, referencing it alongside the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as guides for her series, which details the struggles of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion who is also fledgling talent manager Maia. Perhaps, the biggest spot on creative vision was reserved for Entourage, the show focusing on a rising Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt LA scene (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott started watching it throughout lockdown, became “obsessed”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.

“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The idea for I Love LA emerged—partly—from personal, originally fractious, transition to LA and from the astrological phase, a much-talked-about event for enthusiasts. It was a time that involved her understand major life lessons, work-wise and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. It was almost like these biblical tests …”

Early Beginnings

Brought up in Connecticut, Sennott started developing and showcasing comedy while pursuing acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

Sennott decided to act independently, taking the stage at live shows with Edebiri and uploading uproarious (and decidedly) weird online content digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters intensely drawn to motherhood; a different one portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being trapped in a thriller. Interestingly, she met Emma through the university’s film scene and eventually appearing in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her journey, she explains, has been people her own age supporting her, instead of established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, stating amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”

Rising Success

Individuals who questioned about her earlier will certainly be feeling foolish now. In what she calls a “incredibly circular” story, she appears to achieved an ideal role. A few years back she uploaded a video called “it’s LA” on social media, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a comedy about Angelenos managing the perks of internet fame (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being suspected of being a substance-abusing stealer, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). It would be simple to make a series about digital influence that was horribly aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at its subjects. I Love LA steers clear of each, resulting in a representation of privileged millennial existence that’s honest about the grot and the glamour.

Balanced Perspective

“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