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Rachel Sennott enters the digital interview and immediately starts an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, seeming really apologetic. Although she's only slightly late, she feels compelled to clarify. “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 is ideal to encounter. Moreover, it’s fairly unsurprising. Those who have seen her fearlessly openly gay and outspoken movie Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with Emma Seligman and featured in alongside collaborator the talented actress—would be aware that Sennott possesses plenty to say, ranging from on gender, intimacy, or the pros of forming a high-school combat group. And, by the end her new multi-episode program titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star holds additional insights about the darker side of modern youth (As a millennial, Sennott represents a relatable figure to younger audiences, on the cusp adept for straddling different age groups).

Inspirations and Storytelling Approach

Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges an admirer, referencing it alongside the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as influences for I Love LA, which details the struggles of online personality Tallulah and her friend and new representative portrayed by Sennott. However, the largest spot on concept belonged to Entourage, that program about a rising Hollywood star succeeding in a corrupt entertainment industry (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it amid the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and decided to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.

“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she notes. The inspiration for this project emerged—partly—from personal, at first fractious, move to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a much-talked-about occurrence for followers. It was a phase that involved her learn significant life lessons, work-wise and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Starting Out

Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott started creating and acting comedy while pursuing theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. 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 took matters into her own hands, appearing at live shows with Ayo and posting hysterical (and very) unconventional skits on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed characters fetishistically fixated on having babies; a different one imagined working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being caught in a horror film. Interestingly, she encountered Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately starring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a religious event with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her path, she explains, has been peers offering opportunities, instead of the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, adding with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Manifesting Dreams

Anyone who had doubts regarding her then will certainly be regretting it currently. Through she calls a “astonishingly complete” story, she seems to have achieved the perfect project. A few years back she uploaded a clip titled about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she parodied movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a series about Angelenos juggling advantages of online celebrity (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your client being accused of being a substance-abusing thief, and potentially becoming a unreliable persona non grata). It would be simple to create a show about online fame that was overly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at those depicted. The series does neither, making for a depiction of affluent millennial existence that’s honest about the chaos and the shine.

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