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Rachel Sennott appears on the online meeting and immediately starts an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, seeming truly apologetic. She is only a couple of minutes late, she needs to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s exactly what is ideal to hear. Additionally, it’s fairly unsurprising. Anyone who know her fearlessly openly gay and brash film Bottoms—that she collaborated on with her creative partner and featured in alongside close companion the talented actress—can already know that Sennott has plenty to say, whether on gender, relationships, or the appeal of forming a teen fight club. Furthermore, by the end her latest eight-part program titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star carries further thoughts regarding the darker side of modern youth (As a millennial, Sennott is a relatable figure of the gang, straddling eras skilled for bridging both generations).

Inspirations and Creative Vision

Parallels to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and Sennott admits to being an admirer, naming it in addition to Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as guides for I Love LA, which follows the travails of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and new talent manager Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the largest influence on creative vision was reserved for the HBO series, the program depicting a rising celebrity making his way in an often-seedy Hollywood (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott began viewing it amid COVID-19, became “captivated”, and resolved to put her own twist on it “for the girls and the gays”.

“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she notes. The inspiration for the series originated—in part—from personal, initially rocky, relocation to LA and from her astrological phase, a popular phenomenon for enthusiasts. This represented a phase that included her understand major life lessons, in her career 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 …”

Starting Out

Growing up in Connecticut, Sennott commenced writing and performing stand-up while pursuing theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”

Sennott seized control, performing at open mics with Ayo and sharing hilarious (and very) bizarre skits on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted a group of women obsessively drawn to pregnancy; a different one portrayed being employed at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being trapped in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Seligman through NYU’s movie community and eventually appearing in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the intense thriller. The central motif of her career, she explains, has been peers supporting her, rather than the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she confirms, stating humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Rising Success

Individuals who were skeptical regarding her earlier will certainly be kicking themselves today. Through she calls a “astonishingly complete” development, she has manifested the perfect project. In 2019 she uploaded a video named “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she parodied movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a show about Angelenos balancing benefits of digital stardom (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your friend being labeled as being a intoxicated stealer, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). One might simple to make a show about internet celebrity that was overly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that belittled at its subjects. I Love LA steers clear of each, creating a depiction of advantaged twentysomething living that’s candid about the grot and the appeal.

Empathetic Approach

“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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