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Rachel Sennott enters the digital interview and immediately launches into an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, sounding truly remorseful. Despite being only a couple of minutes behind, she feels compelled to explain. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, during an interview, this is just what is ideal to hear. Besides, it’s fairly predictable. Viewers who know the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and brash film Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with the director and starred in together with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—can already know that she possesses a lot to say, ranging from about roles, intimacy, or the merits of creating a youth brawl society. Furthermore, after watching the new seasonal HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that she has further thoughts about the struggles of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott is a bridge to younger audiences, straddling eras skilled for bridging millennials and Gen Z).

Influences and Artistic Direction

Likenesses to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress readily acknowledges an admirer, naming the show together with the classic series, Insecure and Atlanta as inspirations for her series, which details the travails of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also aspiring talent manager Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the biggest influence on concept went to the popular sitcom, that show about a rising celebrity navigating in an often-seedy LA scene (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott began viewing it amid lockdown, became “captivated”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective 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 idea for this project emerged—in part—from personal, at first rocky, move to LA and from the astrological phase, a much-talked-about event for enthusiasts. It was a phase that involved her learn some big truths, professionally and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Starting Out

Growing up in New England, the star started writing and performing humor while enrolled in acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at live shows with Edebiri and posting hysterical (and very) unconventional comedy videos digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women fetishistically obsessed with motherhood; another portrayed being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being trapped in a scary movie. Interestingly, she met Emma through campus film circles and eventually starring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a Jewish wake with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her career, she says, has been peers supporting her, instead of traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, continuing humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Manifesting Dreams

Those who had doubts regarding Sennott then will likely be regretting it today. Through she calls a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she appears to manifested her dream vehicle. Previously she shared a video named “it’s LA” online, in which she lampooned film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a show about Angelenos managing benefits of internet fame (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a drug-addled thief, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). Some could simple to create a show about online fame that was extremely glamorous—or, more problematic, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA steers clear of each, making for a depiction of affluent young adult existence that’s candid about the chaos and the shine.

Balanced Perspective

“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” she observes. “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