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Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and immediately launches into an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, sounding genuinely remorseful. She is only slightly late, she wants to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s just what is ideal to hear. Besides, it’s pretty unsurprising. Viewers who know the fearlessly queer and outspoken movie Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and appeared in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—would be aware that Sennott possesses a lot to share, whether about roles, relationships, or the merits of creating a teen fight club. Plus, once you finish her latest multi-episode HBO series I Love LA, viewers realize that she carries further insights regarding the challenges of young adulthood (As a millennial, she serves as an honorary member to younger audiences, on the cusp with a knack for connecting millennials and Gen Z).

Inspirations and Artistic Direction

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and the actress readily acknowledges an admirer, citing it in addition to the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as influences for I Love LA, which tracks the struggles of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also aspiring talent manager portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the largest influence on the moodboard went to the HBO series, that program focusing on an up-and-coming celebrity succeeding in a corrupt entertainment industry (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She started watching it amid the pandemic, became “captivated”, and decided 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 concept for the series originated—in part—from personal, originally rocky, relocation to Tinseltown and from the astrological phase, a much-talked-about event for followers. That period marked a phase that saw her grasp major truths, professionally and in private life. “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 resembled a series of extreme challenges…”

Early Beginnings

Brought up in the East Coast, Sennott started developing and showcasing comedy while studying performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” 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. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

She took matters into her own hands, appearing at amateur nights with Ayo and sharing hysterical (and decidedly) weird comedy videos digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted characters obsessively fixated on motherhood; a different one imagined working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being caught in a horror film. By chance, she connected with Emma through NYU’s movie community and ended up starring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the intense thriller. The big theme of her career, she says, has been peers offering opportunities, rather than established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, continuing humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”

Manifesting Dreams

Anyone who had doubts regarding Sennott previously will likely be regretting it currently. As part of she describes as a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she appears to manifested the perfect project. A few years back she uploaded a clip called about Los Angeles on social media, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about Angelenos managing the perks of online celebrity (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being accused of being a drug-addled thief, and perhaps becoming a risky persona non grata). It would be easy to create a program about online fame that was extremely glamorous—or, more problematic, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA steers clear of each, resulting in a depiction of advantaged twentysomething existence that’s honest about the mess 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