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Rachel Sennott enters the digital interview and right away begins an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, appearing really regretful. Despite being only slightly behind, 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!” Luckily, during an interview, that’s exactly what you want to experience. Besides, it’s pretty predictable. Viewers who know the fearlessly queer and outspoken movie Bottoms—which she collaborated on with the director and starred in with her friend The Bear’s standout—will already know that she has much to discuss, ranging from about gender, intimacy, or the pros of forming a high-school fight club. Plus, after watching her new seasonal show I Love LA, viewers realize that the star has even more insights on the darker side of modern youth (Now in her thirties, she represents an honorary member of the gang, on the cusp with a knack for bridging different age groups).

Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach

The comparisons to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott readily acknowledges a fan, naming it together with Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as inspirations for I Love LA, which tracks the journey of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion who is also aspiring representative Sennott’s character. Notably, the most significant presence on concept belonged to the popular sitcom, that show focusing on an up-and-coming A-list actor making his way in an often-seedy LA scene (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott started watching it during COVID-19, became “captivated”, and resolved to create a new version on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.

“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The concept for this project emerged—in part—from firsthand, initially difficult, move to LA and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed phenomenon for astrology heads. It was a phase that included her learn significant life lessons, in her career and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Humble Origins

Growing up in New England, the star commenced writing and performing comedy while enrolled in theatre at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

Sennott decided to act independently, performing at amateur nights with her friend and uploading hilarious (and very) bizarre skits online. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted several females intensely drawn to pregnancy; a different one portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being caught in a thriller. Interestingly, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and ultimately featuring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her journey, she says, has been peers supporting her, rather than the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, stating amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Manifesting Dreams

Those who questioned regarding her then will certainly be feeling foolish currently. In what she describes as a “wild, full-circle” development, she appears to created the perfect project. A few years back she posted a clip called “it’s LA” online, in which she parodied film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a show about LA residents managing the perks of digital stardom (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being accused of being a substance-abusing criminal, and perhaps becoming a risky persona non grata). It would be tempting to produce a program about digital influence that was overly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at the characters. This show steers clear of each, creating a portrait of privileged millennial existence that’s honest about the chaos and the shine.

Nuanced Portrayal

“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