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Rachel Sennott enters the digital interview and at once launches into an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, seeming genuinely apologetic. She is only slightly late, she wants to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, during an interview, that’s exactly what you want to experience. Besides, it’s fairly unsurprising. Those who have seen her boldly queer and unapologetically crass project Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and appeared in with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—would already know that Sennott possesses plenty to share, be it on identity, relationships, or the pros of starting a high-school brawl society. Furthermore, once you finish her latest seasonal show I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she carries further perspectives about the darker side of modern youth (As a millennial, Sennott is an honorary member of the gang, on the cusp with a knack for straddling both generations).

Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach

Parallels to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress is an admirer, naming it in addition to the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as guides for the project, which tracks the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and fledgling talent manager Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the largest influence on the moodboard was reserved for Entourage, that show focusing on an emerging Hollywood star navigating in a gritty LA scene (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it amid COVID-19, became “captivated”, and chose to create a new version 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 explains. The idea for I Love LA originated—to some extent—from firsthand, initially difficult, transition to Tinseltown and from the saturn return, a popular occurrence for followers. That period marked a phase that involved her learn major life lessons, work-wise and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”

Early Beginnings

Growing up in New England, the star began creating and acting comedy while enrolled in performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” 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. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”

Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at open mics with Ayo and uploading hilarious (and distinctly) weird comedy videos on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters intensely fixated on having babies; a different one envisioned being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being stuck in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she met Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a Jewish wake with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her path, she explains, has been people her own age supporting her, instead of the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, stating humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”

Rising Success

Anyone who questioned about her then will likely be kicking themselves currently. In what she describes as a “incredibly circular” development, she appears to achieved the perfect project. Previously she posted content titled about Los Angeles on social media, in which she lampooned film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about city dwellers juggling the perks of digital stardom (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being labeled as being a substance-abusing stealer, and possibly becoming a risky outcast). Some could easy to create a series about digital influence that was horribly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that mocked at its subjects. The series avoids both, making for a portrait of privileged twentysomething living that’s candid about the grot and the shine.

Empathetic Approach

“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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