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Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and right away begins an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, appearing really regretful. Although she's only a bit late, she feels compelled to explain. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s just what is ideal to experience. Additionally, it’s fairly unsurprising. Anyone who know the boldly LGBTQ+ and outspoken project titled Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with her creative partner and featured in with close companion Ayo Edebiri—would understand that Sennott holds a lot to say, be it about identity, intimacy, or the merits of starting a youth fight club. Furthermore, after watching her new multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she holds further thoughts about the darker side of modern youth (As a millennial, Sennott serves as a bridge to younger audiences, on the cusp skilled for connecting different age groups).

Influences and Storytelling Approach

The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being a fan, naming it in addition to the HBO hit, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for I Love LA, which tracks the journey of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also fledgling talent manager Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the biggest spot on concept went to the HBO series, the show about an up-and-coming celebrity navigating in a gritty entertainment industry (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott discovered it during COVID-19, became “hooked”, and decided to put her own twist 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 notes. The concept for I Love LA came—to some extent—from firsthand, initially difficult, move to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a frequently discussed event for followers. It was a phase that included her learn major life lessons, professionally and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”

Humble Origins

Raised in Connecticut, the star started creating and acting humor while studying theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”

She took matters into her own hands, appearing at amateur nights with Edebiri and sharing uproarious (and decidedly) unconventional skits online. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on characters obsessively obsessed with motherhood; another imagined working at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being stuck in a thriller. By chance, she met Seligman through the university’s film scene and eventually starring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a Jewish wake with echoes of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her path, she explains, has been contemporaries supporting her, rather than the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, stating amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”

Rising Success

Those who had doubts regarding her then will likely be feeling foolish now. Through she labels a “incredibly circular” story, she seems to have achieved the perfect project. Previously she posted content titled on LA life on the internet, in which she lampooned movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a comedy about Angelenos juggling the perks of internet fame (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your friend being labeled as being a substance-abusing stealer, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). One might simple to produce a series about digital influence that was overly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that punched down at its subjects. I Love LA steers clear of each, making for a depiction of privileged twentysomething living that’s candid about the grot and the glamour.

Empathetic Approach

“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