🔗 Share this article

Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and immediately starts an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, sounding really remorseful. Although she's only a bit behind, she needs to explain. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, in this context, this is exactly what you want to encounter. Additionally, it’s pretty unsurprising. Anyone who have seen the fearlessly openly gay and outspoken project Bottoms—that she penned with the director and featured in with close companion the talented actress—can already know that Sennott has much to share, ranging from on gender, relationships, or the merits of creating a youth combat group. Plus, after watching her recent eight-part show titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she has additional perspectives on the challenges of modern youth (As a millennial, she represents a bridge for this generation, a tale-end millennial skilled for straddling different age groups).

Inspirations and Storytelling Approach

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and the actress readily acknowledges enthusiastic, naming the show alongside the HBO hit, Insecure and the innovative program as guides for I Love LA, which tracks the journey of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also aspiring representative Maia. However, the biggest presence on concept went to the popular sitcom, the program about an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt entertainment industry (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it throughout lockdown, became “obsessed”, and chose to add a fresh perspective 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 concept for the series originated—in part—from firsthand, at first difficult, relocation to Tinseltown and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about event for astrology heads. It was a time that included her understand major insights, work-wise and in private life. “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. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Humble Origins

Raised in the East Coast, Sennott started developing and showcasing comedy while pursuing theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”

Sennott took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at amateur nights with her friend and sharing hysterical (and very) unconventional skits online. One, titled Baby Cult, followed several females intensely fixated on having babies; a different one envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as like being caught in a thriller. Interestingly, she connected with Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ended up featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a religious event with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her career, she notes, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, as opposed to traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she confirms, continuing with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”

Manifesting Dreams

Those who had doubts about her earlier will likely be regretting it currently. Through she labels a “incredibly circular” story, she appears to created her dream vehicle. A few years back she shared a clip called “it’s LA” on social media, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a show about LA residents balancing benefits of internet fame (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being accused of being a substance-abusing stealer, and potentially becoming a unreliable pariah). Some could tempting to make a series about digital influence that was overly idealized—or, more problematic, one that belittled at the characters. This show does neither, resulting in a portrait of affluent millennial life that’s honest about the chaos and the shine.

Nuanced Portrayal

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