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Rachel Sennott enters the video call and right away launches into an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, appearing genuinely remorseful. Despite being only slightly delayed, she feels compelled to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, for a writer, this is precisely what is ideal to experience. Besides, it’s fairly expected. Viewers who have seen her fearlessly LGBTQ+ and outspoken film Bottoms—which Sennott penned with Emma Seligman and featured in alongside collaborator the talented actress—would already know that she holds plenty to share, ranging from about gender, intimacy, or the merits of forming a high-school brawl society. Plus, by the end her latest seasonal HBO series titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star has additional thoughts regarding the challenges of young adulthood (At 30, Sennott represents an honorary member for this generation, a tale-end millennial skilled for straddling different age groups).

Influences and Creative Vision

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and Sennott is enthusiastic, citing it in addition to the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as influences for the project, which tracks the journey of online personality Tallulah and close companion and fledgling talent manager portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the biggest spot on the moodboard belonged to the HBO series, the program about an up-and-coming Hollywood star making his way in a corrupt Hollywood (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott began viewing it throughout COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and decided to put her own twist on it “for the girls and the gays”.

“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The idea for this project came—in part—from firsthand, originally difficult, transition to LA and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed occurrence for astrology heads. It was a time that saw her understand significant life lessons, work-wise and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Humble Origins

Brought up in New England, the star started creating and acting stand-up while pursuing performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

Sennott took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at live shows with her friend and posting uproarious (and distinctly) unconventional skits on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on a group of women fetishistically obsessed with motherhood; a different one portrayed being employed at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being trapped in a scary movie. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ultimately featuring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a religious event with hints of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her career, she says, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, rather than established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, stating amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Manifesting Dreams

Those who had doubts regarding Sennott previously will certainly be regretting it now. Through she calls a “incredibly circular” development, she appears to created the perfect project. Previously she posted a clip titled on LA life on the internet, in which she lampooned film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a show about Angelenos balancing the perks of internet fame (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being accused of being a substance-abusing criminal, and potentially becoming a risky pariah). One might tempting to create a program about internet celebrity that was horribly idealized—or, worse, one that punched down at its subjects. I Love LA steers clear of each, creating a portrait of advantaged twentysomething life that’s candid about the chaos and the shine.

Balanced Perspective

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