🔗 Share this article

Rachel Sennott enters the digital interview and immediately begins an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, seeming truly remorseful. Although she's only a couple of minutes delayed, she needs to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Fortunately, in this context, this is just what you want to experience. Moreover, it’s fairly expected. Anyone who know her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and outspoken project titled Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with the director and featured in with her friend the talented actress—would already know that she has much to share, be it on roles, sex, or the appeal of starting a high-school fight club. And, by the end her new eight-part show I Love LA, viewers realize that the star holds further thoughts about the challenges of modern youth (As a millennial, she represents a relatable figure of the gang, straddling eras skilled for bridging millennials and Gen Z).

Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and Sennott admits to being a fan, naming it in addition to Sex and the City, Insecure and Atlanta as guides for her series, which details the journey of online personality Tallulah and her friend and new talent manager Sennott’s character. Notably, the largest spot on concept went to the popular sitcom, the show focusing on an up-and-coming celebrity making his way in an often-seedy LA scene (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She started watching it throughout lockdown, became “obsessed”, and resolved to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.

“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she says. The inspiration for this project came—partly—from firsthand, initially difficult, relocation to Los Angeles and from the cosmic event, a frequently discussed phenomenon for astrology heads. That period marked an era that included her understand major life lessons, work-wise and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. It was almost like these biblical tests …”

Early Beginnings

Raised in New England, Sennott began writing and performing stand-up while studying theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she states. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”

She took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and posting hilarious (and very) bizarre online content on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed characters obsessively fixated on pregnancy; a different one portrayed being employed at the brand Hollister as like being caught in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a religious event with echoes of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her journey, she notes, has been peers supporting her, rather than established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, stating humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”

Manifesting Dreams

Anyone who were skeptical about her then will certainly be regretting it currently. In what she describes as a “incredibly circular” story, she appears to created her dream vehicle. In 2019 she uploaded a clip called about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a series about Angelenos balancing the perks of digital stardom (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a substance-abusing thief, and possibly becoming a risky outcast). One might simple to make a series about internet celebrity that was overly glamorous—or, worse, one that punched down at the characters. I Love LA does neither, making for a portrait of advantaged twentysomething life that’s candid about the grot and the appeal.

Nuanced Portrayal

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