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Rachel Sennott appears on the digital interview and right away begins an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, appearing genuinely apologetic. Despite being only a bit delayed, she wants to justify. “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, this is precisely what is ideal to experience. Besides, it’s fairly predictable. Viewers who have seen the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and brash project Bottoms—which she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and featured in alongside collaborator Ayo Edebiri—would understand that she possesses much to say, be it on roles, sex, or the pros of creating a teen fight club. Furthermore, after watching her recent multi-episode show I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star holds additional perspectives on the darker side of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, she represents a relatable figure of the gang, a tale-end millennial adept for straddling millennials and Gen Z).

Guiding Lights and Creative Vision

The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and the actress is a fan, referencing the show in addition to the HBO hit, Insecure and Atlanta as inspirations for the project, which tracks the struggles of online personality Tallulah and close companion and new representative Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the largest presence on the moodboard was reserved for Entourage, that show focusing on an emerging celebrity navigating in a gritty entertainment industry (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it during COVID-19, became “captivated”, and decided to add a fresh perspective 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 explains. The inspiration for I Love LA originated—partly—from her own, at first rocky, move to Tinseltown and from her saturn return, a popular event for astrology heads. It was a phase that involved her grasp major insights, in her career and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”

Starting Out

Brought up in the East Coast, the star started writing and performing humor while enrolled in acting at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”

Sennott decided to act independently, taking the stage at live shows with Ayo and uploading hysterical (and very) weird comedy videos online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters intensely obsessed with motherhood; another imagined working at the brand Hollister as akin to being trapped in a thriller. Interestingly, she encountered Emma through NYU’s movie community and ended up starring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, as opposed to traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, adding with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”

Manifesting Dreams

Anyone who questioned about her earlier will likely be regretting it currently. In what she describes as a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she appears to manifested the perfect project. Previously she shared a video called “it’s LA” on social media, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a show about Angelenos managing benefits of digital stardom (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being accused of being a intoxicated stealer, and potentially becoming a unreliable persona non grata). One might simple to create a show about internet celebrity that was horribly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA avoids both, creating a representation of advantaged millennial existence that’s frank about the grot and the glamour.

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