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Rachel Sennott enters the video call and right away starts an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, sounding truly apologetic. She is only slightly late, she wants to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, in this context, that’s just what you want to encounter. Besides, it’s fairly unsurprising. Anyone who have seen her fearlessly openly gay and unapologetically crass film titled Bottoms—that she collaborated on with her creative partner and starred in alongside her friend Ayo Edebiri—would already know that Sennott holds much to share, ranging from on identity, intimacy, or the pros of creating a high-school brawl society. And, after watching the latest multi-episode show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she carries even more perspectives about the struggles of modern youth (At 30, she is an honorary member to younger audiences, on the cusp with a knack for straddling both generations).

Influences and Storytelling Approach

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is a fan, referencing the show alongside the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as inspirations for I Love LA, which details the struggles of an influencer Tallulah and close companion who is also fledgling representative Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the most significant influence on concept was reserved for the HBO series, that show focusing on an up-and-coming celebrity succeeding in a corrupt LA scene (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it during lockdown, became “captivated”, and resolved to put her own twist 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 I Love LA originated—in part—from firsthand, originally rocky, transition to LA and from the cosmic event, a popular phenomenon for astrology heads. It was a phase that saw her grasp some big truths, work-wise and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”

Humble Origins

Brought up in Connecticut, the star started developing and showcasing humor while enrolled in acting at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”

She seized control, appearing at live shows with Edebiri and sharing uproarious (and distinctly) unconventional skits on the internet. One, titled Baby Cult, followed characters intensely drawn to having babies; a different one imagined working at the brand Hollister as akin to being stuck in a horror film. By chance, she connected with Seligman through the university’s film scene and ultimately appearing in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a religious event with hints of the intense thriller. The central motif of her path, she explains, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, instead of established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, stating humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”

Career Breakthrough

Individuals who were skeptical about her earlier will likely be feeling foolish now. Through she calls a “incredibly circular” story, she has manifested an ideal role. A few years back she uploaded a video titled about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a series about LA residents managing benefits of online celebrity (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being suspected of being a substance-abusing criminal, and possibly becoming a unreliable outcast). One might tempting to create a program about online fame that was overly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at those depicted. This show does neither, resulting in a depiction of privileged young adult living that’s honest about the mess and the shine.

Empathetic Approach

“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