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Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and right away launches into an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, sounding really apologetic. Despite being only a couple of minutes behind, she wants 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 exactly what is ideal to encounter. Besides, it’s quite unsurprising. Viewers who know her unapologetically queer and brash movie titled Bottoms—which she collaborated on with her creative partner and featured in together with her friend the talented actress—can understand that Sennott has much to share, ranging from about gender, sex, or the merits of forming a high-school fight club. And, by the end her latest seasonal program I Love LA, it is clear that the star has further thoughts regarding the darker side of modern youth (Now in her thirties, she is an honorary member for this generation, a tale-end millennial skilled for bridging both generations).

Influences and Creative Vision

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being an admirer, citing it alongside the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as inspirations for I Love LA, which tracks the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and fledgling agent Maia. Notably, the most significant presence on concept went to the popular sitcom, the program about an emerging A-list actor succeeding in a gritty LA scene (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She started watching it during lockdown, became “hooked”, and decided to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.

“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she says. The concept for I Love LA emerged—to some extent—from personal, initially rocky, relocation to LA and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about phenomenon for enthusiasts. This represented a time that saw her grasp major truths, work-wise and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Starting Out

Brought up in the East Coast, the star began writing and performing comedy while studying acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”

Sennott seized control, appearing at open mics with Ayo and sharing hilarious (and very) weird skits on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on a group of women fetishistically obsessed with having babies; a different one imagined working at the brand Hollister as akin to being trapped in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Emma through NYU’s movie community and ended up starring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a Jewish wake with hints of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her career, she explains, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, rather than the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, stating with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Rising Success

Those who had doubts regarding Sennott previously will surely be feeling foolish currently. In what she calls a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she appears to created the perfect project. In 2019 she uploaded a video titled about Los Angeles online, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a series about Angelenos juggling advantages of internet fame (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your friend being labeled as being a substance-abusing thief, and perhaps becoming a risky pariah). One might tempting to create a show about internet celebrity that was horribly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA avoids both, making for a representation of affluent young adult life that’s honest about the chaos and the appeal.

Nuanced Portrayal

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