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Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and at once launches into an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, seeming really apologetic. Although she's only slightly delayed, she wants to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, in this context, this is precisely what you want to encounter. Additionally, it’s pretty predictable. Those who know the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and outspoken project titled Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and featured in together with her friend Ayo Edebiri—will already know that Sennott holds plenty to share, ranging from on roles, relationships, or the appeal of creating a teen fight club. And, after watching her latest multi-episode program titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she holds additional thoughts on the challenges of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott is a relatable figure for this generation, straddling eras skilled for bridging different age groups).

Influences and Storytelling Approach

Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and the actress admits to being an admirer, naming it alongside the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as influences for I Love LA, which tracks the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and fledgling agent Sennott’s character. However, the largest spot on creative vision belonged to the popular sitcom, that program depicting an up-and-coming celebrity navigating in an often-seedy Hollywood (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott began viewing it throughout COVID-19, became “captivated”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.

“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she explains. The concept for I Love LA emerged—to some extent—from personal, at first fractious, transition to Tinseltown and from the saturn return, a popular phenomenon for followers. It was a time that included her learn major truths, in her career and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Early Beginnings

Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott started writing and performing stand-up while pursuing theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “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?”

Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at live shows with Edebiri and uploading uproarious (and decidedly) weird comedy videos on the internet. One, Baby Cult, followed several females intensely fixated on pregnancy; another portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being caught in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Seligman through the university’s film scene and ended up appearing in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a religious event with hints of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her career, she says, has been peers supporting her, instead of established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, continuing with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”

Rising Success

Anyone who had doubts about her previously will likely be feeling foolish today. Through she calls a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she seems to have created the perfect project. In 2019 she shared a video called “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she parodied film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a show about city dwellers managing the perks of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your friend being suspected of being a intoxicated stealer, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). One might tempting to produce a series about internet celebrity that was horribly glamorous—or, worse, one that mocked at those depicted. The series steers clear of each, making for a depiction of privileged millennial life that’s candid about the chaos and the shine.

Nuanced Portrayal

“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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