Rachel Sennott discussing her side-splitting series portraying that messy allure of today's youth lifestyle

The star joins the video call and at once launches into an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, seeming genuinely remorseful. She is only a bit delayed, she feels compelled to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s just what is ideal to hear. Additionally, it’s fairly expected. Anyone who have seen her unapologetically openly gay and brash film titled Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with the director and featured in with her friend Ayo Edebiri—can already know that Sennott holds a lot to share, be it about gender, sex, or the appeal of creating a youth fight club. Furthermore, once you finish the recent eight-part program I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries further insights regarding the challenges of modern youth (At 30, she is an honorary member of the gang, a tale-end millennial adept for bridging millennials and Gen Z).

Influences and Artistic Direction

Likenesses to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and the actress is enthusiastic, citing the show alongside Sex and the City, Insecure and Atlanta as influences for the project, which tracks the travails of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and fledgling representative Sennott’s character. However, the largest influence on concept belonged to Entourage, that HBO sitcom focusing on a rising celebrity navigating in an often-seedy LA scene (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it amid the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and resolved to put her own twist 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 the series came—in part—from her own, initially fractious, move to Tinseltown and from the cosmic event, a frequently discussed event for followers. It was a time that involved her understand some big 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 …”

Starting Out

Brought up in the East Coast, the star commenced developing and showcasing comedy while pursuing performance at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”

She decided to act independently, performing at amateur nights with Ayo and sharing uproarious (and distinctly) weird skits on the internet. One, titled Baby Cult, centered on several females fetishistically drawn to having babies; another imagined being employed at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being trapped in a scary movie. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through the university’s film scene and ultimately starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her career, she notes, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, rather than traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she confirms, continuing with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Career Breakthrough

Individuals who questioned regarding her then will certainly be kicking themselves today. In what she labels a “incredibly circular” development, she has manifested the perfect project. In 2019 she shared a clip named “it’s LA” online, in which she parodied movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a show about Angelenos juggling the perks of digital stardom (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being accused of being a drug-addled thief, and potentially becoming a unreliable pariah). Some could simple to create a show about online fame that was overly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that mocked at its subjects. I Love LA steers clear of each, resulting in a representation of privileged young adult life 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

Gregory Gray
Gregory Gray

Oliver Grant is a seasoned digital strategist with over a decade of experience in SEO and content marketing.