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Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and at once starts an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, appearing truly regretful. Although she's only slightly delayed, she needs to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, in this context, that’s just what is ideal to hear. Besides, it’s pretty unsurprising. Viewers who have seen the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and brash film titled Bottoms—which Sennott penned with the director and appeared in together with her friend the talented actress—can already know that she possesses a lot to say, ranging from about roles, relationships, or the pros of creating a high-school fight club. Furthermore, once you finish her new eight-part show I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries even more thoughts regarding the challenges of modern youth (Now in her thirties, she represents a bridge of the gang, on the cusp with a knack for straddling different age groups).

Influences and Storytelling Approach

Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and Sennott readily acknowledges a fan, naming the show in addition to Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as influences for her series, which details the struggles of a social media star Tallulah and ally and aspiring talent manager portrayed by Sennott. However, the most significant presence on creative vision was reserved for the popular sitcom, the HBO sitcom depicting an up-and-coming A-list actor succeeding in a gritty entertainment industry (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She discovered it amid the pandemic, became “hooked”, and chose to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.

“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she notes. The concept for this project originated—in part—from her own, originally rocky, move to LA and from the cosmic event, a popular event for enthusiasts. This represented an era that saw her understand major life lessons, professionally and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”

Humble Origins

Raised in New England, Sennott commenced writing and performing comedy while pursuing performance at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” 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.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”

She seized control, performing at open mics with Edebiri and sharing hysterical (and decidedly) weird online content digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted characters intensely drawn to motherhood; another envisioned working at the brand Hollister as like being caught in a thriller. Interestingly, she connected with Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ended up starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a Jewish wake with hints of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her career, she explains, has been peers supporting her, instead of established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, stating humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”

Career Breakthrough

Anyone who had doubts regarding her previously will likely be feeling foolish today. Through she describes as a “astonishingly complete” story, she appears to manifested the perfect project. Previously she shared a video called “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a series about Angelenos juggling advantages of online celebrity (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being suspected of being a substance-abusing stealer, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). One might easy to make a series about internet celebrity that was extremely idealized—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at its subjects. I Love LA avoids both, resulting in a portrait of privileged young adult existence that’s candid about the grot and the shine.

Nuanced Portrayal

“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” she comments. “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