Rachel Sennott on her side-splitting series portraying that grotty appeal of today's youth existence

Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and at once begins an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, seeming truly regretful. Despite being only slightly late, she wants to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, in this context, this is just what you want to hear. Besides, it’s quite expected. Viewers who know her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass movie titled Bottoms—which she collaborated on with her creative partner and appeared in together with her friend The Bear’s standout—would be aware that Sennott has much to share, whether about gender, sex, or the pros of forming a youth combat group. Plus, after watching her new multi-episode program titled I Love LA, it is clear that she carries additional insights about the challenges of Gen Z life (At 30, Sennott serves as a bridge for this generation, on the cusp adept for bridging both generations).

Guiding Lights and Creative Vision

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and Sennott is a fan, citing the show together with the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for I Love LA, which tracks the struggles of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and fledgling agent portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the largest influence on concept belonged to the HBO series, the HBO sitcom depicting an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt entertainment industry (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She started watching it during the pandemic, became “captivated”, and chose to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.

“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The concept for this project emerged—partly—from her own, originally difficult, move to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a popular occurrence for enthusiasts. This represented a phase that involved her understand significant insights, professionally and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” 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 …”

Humble Origins

Brought up in Connecticut, the star began developing and showcasing stand-up 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 explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at live shows with Ayo and posting hysterical (and decidedly) weird comedy videos digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women intensely drawn to motherhood; another portrayed working at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being caught in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up starring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a religious event with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been people her own age offering opportunities, rather than established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she confirms, stating humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Career Breakthrough

Anyone who had doubts regarding her previously will certainly be regretting it currently. In what she describes as a “wild, full-circle” development, she appears to achieved an ideal role. In 2019 she uploaded a video called “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about city dwellers balancing the perks of digital stardom (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being labeled as being a drug-addled stealer, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). Some could tempting to produce a program about internet celebrity that was overly idealized—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at its subjects. The series does neither, creating a portrait of affluent young adult living that’s honest about the chaos and the shine.

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