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Rachel Sennott joins the video call and at once starts an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, appearing really apologetic. Although she's only slightly late, she wants to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, for a writer, this is just what is ideal to experience. Additionally, it’s quite expected. Viewers familiar with the boldly queer and brash movie Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with Emma Seligman and starred in with close companion Ayo Edebiri—would already know that Sennott holds a lot to say, be it about identity, sex, or the appeal of creating a youth fight club. And, by the end the new multi-episode show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she carries additional thoughts about the darker side of young adulthood (As a millennial, she is a relatable figure to younger audiences, on the cusp adept for bridging millennials and Gen Z).

Inspirations and Storytelling Approach

Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges a fan, naming the show in addition to the HBO hit, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for her series, which details the struggles of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and fledgling representative Sennott’s character. However, the biggest influence on creative vision belonged to the HBO series, the program focusing on an up-and-coming A-list actor succeeding in a corrupt LA scene (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott discovered it during lockdown, became “hooked”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.

“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The concept for the series came—to some extent—from personal, originally fractious, transition to LA and from her saturn return, a popular phenomenon for followers. This represented a time that involved her learn significant truths, professionally and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “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 Connecticut, Sennott began writing and performing comedy while enrolled in performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”

Sennott decided to act independently, performing at amateur nights with Edebiri and sharing uproarious (and distinctly) weird comedy videos digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted a group of women fetishistically obsessed with pregnancy; another portrayed working at the brand Hollister as similar to being trapped in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she met Seligman through the university’s film scene and eventually starring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her journey, she notes, has been peers giving her a shot, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she repeats, continuing with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Manifesting Dreams

Anyone who were skeptical regarding Sennott then will certainly be feeling foolish now. As part of she describes as a “astonishingly complete” story, she has achieved the perfect project. In 2019 she shared content titled “it’s LA” online, in which she parodied movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about LA residents balancing the perks of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being accused of being a intoxicated stealer, and potentially becoming a unreliable persona non grata). Some could easy to make a show about digital influence that was overly aspirational—or, worse, one that belittled at its subjects. The series does neither, making for a representation of advantaged twentysomething existence that’s candid about the mess and the glamour.

Balanced Perspective

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