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Rachel Sennott enters the video call and right away launches into an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, appearing really apologetic. She is only a couple of minutes behind, she feels compelled to clarify. “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, this is precisely what you want to experience. Besides, it’s quite expected. Viewers who have seen her fearlessly queer and outspoken film titled Bottoms—that she penned with the director and starred in together with collaborator the talented actress—would be aware that Sennott possesses a lot to share, ranging from on gender, intimacy, or the appeal of creating a youth brawl society. Plus, by the end her latest seasonal show I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star carries additional thoughts regarding the challenges of young adulthood (As a millennial, she represents an honorary member to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial with a knack for straddling both generations).

Guiding Lights and Creative Vision

Parallels to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and the actress readily acknowledges enthusiastic, naming it together with Sex and the City, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as guides for I Love LA, which tracks the travails of online personality Tallulah and close companion and fledgling representative Maia. However, the largest presence on the moodboard went to the popular sitcom, that program about a rising Hollywood star navigating in a gritty LA scene (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott discovered it during the pandemic, became “hooked”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective 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 says. The idea for I Love LA came—in part—from personal, originally difficult, transition to Tinseltown and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed phenomenon for followers. This represented a time that saw her learn significant life lessons, professionally and personally. “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.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Humble Origins

Raised in Connecticut, Sennott started creating and acting comedy while studying acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”

Sennott took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at amateur nights with her friend and sharing hysterical (and distinctly) unconventional comedy videos on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters obsessively drawn to pregnancy; a different one envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as like being trapped in a thriller. By chance, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and ultimately featuring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her journey, she explains, has been peers giving her a shot, as opposed to the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she confirms, stating amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Rising Success

Those who were skeptical regarding her then will likely be feeling foolish currently. In what she describes as a “wild, full-circle” development, she has achieved an ideal role. Previously she shared content called on LA life on the internet, in which she parodied movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a series about Angelenos managing the perks of online celebrity (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being accused of being a intoxicated stealer, and possibly becoming a risky pariah). Some could easy to produce a show about digital influence that was horribly idealized—or, more problematic, one that mocked at the characters. The series steers clear of each, resulting in a portrait of advantaged twentysomething living that’s candid about the mess and the appeal.

Balanced Perspective

“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