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Rachel Sennott joins the digital interview and right away begins an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, sounding genuinely remorseful. Despite being only a couple of minutes behind, she wants to clarify. “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!” Luckily, in this context, this is precisely what you want to hear. Besides, it’s fairly expected. Viewers familiar with the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and brash film Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and appeared in alongside close companion Ayo Edebiri—will already know that she possesses a lot to share, be it on identity, sex, or the merits of forming a high-school fight club. Furthermore, once you finish her recent eight-part program I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds even more insights on the struggles of young adulthood (At 30, she is a relatable figure for this generation, straddling eras adept for connecting millennials and Gen Z).

Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction

The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and the actress is enthusiastic, naming the show together with Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as influences for I Love LA, which details the travails of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also aspiring talent manager Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the most significant presence on creative vision was reserved for Entourage, that HBO sitcom depicting an up-and-coming Hollywood star making his way in an often-seedy LA scene (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it during COVID-19, became “captivated”, and decided to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.

“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she explains. The idea for I Love LA came—in part—from her own, originally fractious, move to LA and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about event for astrology heads. This represented a phase that saw her learn major insights, professionally and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”

Early Beginnings

Growing up in New England, Sennott started creating and acting humor while studying theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at amateur nights with Ayo and sharing hysterical (and distinctly) unconventional online content digitally. One, Baby Cult, depicted several females intensely drawn to motherhood; another imagined being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being trapped in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she met Emma through NYU’s movie community and ended up featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her path, she notes, has been people her own age offering opportunities, instead of traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, stating humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Manifesting Dreams

Those who had doubts about Sennott previously will surely be feeling foolish now. Through she calls a “astonishingly complete” story, she has achieved the perfect project. A few years back she uploaded content called “it’s LA” online, in which she lampooned film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a show about Angelenos managing the perks of online celebrity (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being accused of being a drug-addled thief, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). One might simple to make a series about online fame that was horribly glamorous—or, worse, one that punched down at those depicted. The series steers clear of each, resulting in a representation of advantaged twentysomething living that’s honest about the grot and the appeal.

Empathetic Approach

“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