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Rachel Sennott joins the digital interview and right away begins an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, appearing really regretful. Despite being only a couple of minutes late, she wants to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, in this context, that’s exactly what you want to encounter. Moreover, it’s fairly expected. Anyone who have seen the boldly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—that Sennott penned with her creative partner and appeared in alongside collaborator The Bear’s standout—can be aware that she holds much to share, be it about roles, relationships, or the appeal of starting a high-school fight club. And, after watching her recent multi-episode show I Love LA, viewers realize that the star carries even more insights on the darker side of modern youth (At 30, she is a bridge to younger audiences, on the cusp adept for straddling different age groups).

Guiding Lights and Creative Vision

Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and the actress is an admirer, citing the show together with Sex and the City, Insecure and Atlanta as guides for her series, which follows the journey of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and new representative portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the most significant influence on concept was reserved for the popular sitcom, that show depicting an emerging celebrity making his way in an often-seedy LA scene (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She discovered it amid lockdown, became “captivated”, and resolved 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 inspiration for I Love LA originated—to some extent—from personal, initially difficult, transition to Tinseltown and from her saturn return, a frequently discussed event for enthusiasts. This represented a time that included her learn significant insights, in her career and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “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…”

Humble Origins

Brought up in New England, the star commenced writing and performing humor while studying acting at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “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 Edebiri and posting hysterical (and very) weird skits online. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed several females fetishistically fixated on pregnancy; a different one envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being stuck in a scary movie. Interestingly, she encountered Emma through NYU’s movie community and ultimately starring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a religious event with echoes of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her path, she explains, has been people her own age offering opportunities, instead of established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, adding with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Manifesting Dreams

Anyone who had doubts about Sennott then will certainly be regretting it now. As part of she calls a “astonishingly complete” story, she seems to have manifested an ideal role. In 2019 she shared a video named “it’s LA” online, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about Angelenos juggling benefits of internet fame (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your friend being suspected of being a drug-addled thief, and perhaps becoming a risky persona non grata). It would be simple to create a series about online fame that was extremely aspirational—or, worse, one that punched down at those depicted. This show steers clear of each, creating a representation of advantaged twentysomething existence that’s honest about the grot and the shine.

Empathetic Approach

“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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