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The star joins the video call and right away begins an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, appearing genuinely remorseful. She is only a bit late, she wants to explain. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, in this context, this is just what you want to experience. Additionally, it’s pretty expected. Those who have seen her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and outspoken film titled Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with Emma Seligman and starred in together with close companion The Bear’s standout—will already know that Sennott has plenty to discuss, ranging from on identity, sex, or the merits of forming a youth brawl society. Furthermore, after watching the new eight-part program titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she holds additional perspectives about the struggles of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she serves as a relatable figure for this generation, on the cusp skilled for connecting millennials and Gen Z).

Influences and Storytelling Approach

The comparisons to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and the actress readily acknowledges an admirer, referencing it in addition to the classic series, Insecure and the innovative program as inspirations for I Love LA, which tracks the journey of an influencer Tallulah and her friend and fledgling representative portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the largest influence on concept belonged to Entourage, that program about an emerging Hollywood star making his way in an often-seedy LA scene (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott began viewing it amid the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and chose to create a new version 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 explains. The concept for the series emerged—to some extent—from personal, originally rocky, relocation to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a frequently discussed occurrence for followers. It was a phase that saw her understand some big life lessons, work-wise and in private life. “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 commenced writing and performing humor 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. “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

She decided to act independently, performing at open mics with her friend and uploading uproarious (and decidedly) bizarre skits online. One, Baby Cult, centered on characters intensely obsessed with motherhood; another envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being caught in a scary movie. Interestingly, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a funeral gathering with echoes of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her path, she says, has been people her own age supporting her, instead of the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, adding with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Manifesting Dreams

Those who questioned about her previously will likely be kicking themselves now. As part of she calls a “wild, full-circle” story, she seems to have achieved the perfect project. Previously she shared content titled about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she lampooned film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a series about Angelenos balancing benefits of internet fame (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being accused of being a intoxicated thief, and potentially becoming a risky pariah). It would be easy to produce a program about digital influence that was horribly idealized—or, worse, one that mocked at its subjects. The series steers clear of each, resulting in a portrait of advantaged millennial existence that’s honest about the chaos and the glamour.

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 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