Rachel Sennott discussing the uproarious comedy portraying that messy allure of today's youth existence

The star appears on the online meeting and right away starts an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, seeming genuinely apologetic. Although she's only a couple of minutes behind, she wants to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, in this context, this is just what one hopes to hear. Additionally, it’s pretty expected. Anyone who know her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and brash movie titled Bottoms—which she collaborated on with the director and starred in alongside collaborator The Bear’s standout—would understand that she possesses much to say, ranging from about identity, relationships, or the merits of forming a teen brawl society. Furthermore, once you finish the new eight-part HBO series I Love LA, it is clear that the star has further perspectives regarding the struggles of young adulthood (At 30, Sennott serves as an honorary member to younger audiences, on the cusp adept for straddling different age groups).

Inspirations and Storytelling Approach

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott admits to being an admirer, referencing it together with Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as inspirations for her series, which follows the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also new representative portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the most significant spot on concept was reserved for Entourage, the program about an up-and-coming celebrity making his way in a corrupt entertainment industry (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott began viewing it throughout the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and decided to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.

“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The concept for the series came—partly—from her own, at first difficult, move to Tinseltown and from the saturn return, a much-talked-about event for astrology heads. That period marked a phase that involved her learn some big life lessons, work-wise and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” 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…”

Starting Out

Brought up in New England, Sennott began developing and showcasing humor while enrolled in theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” 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.”

She took matters into her own hands, appearing at amateur nights with her friend and posting hysterical (and decidedly) weird skits on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed several females obsessively drawn to pregnancy; a different one envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being stuck in a thriller. By chance, she encountered Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ultimately appearing in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a funeral gathering with echoes of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her path, she explains, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, adding humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Rising Success

Those who questioned about her then will likely be feeling foolish now. As part of she describes as a “wild, full-circle” development, she appears to achieved the perfect project. In 2019 she uploaded a clip called on LA life on social media, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a series about city dwellers juggling advantages of digital stardom (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being accused of being a substance-abusing criminal, and potentially becoming a risky pariah). It would be easy to make a series about online fame that was horribly aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at its subjects. I Love LA avoids both, creating a depiction of affluent millennial living that’s honest about the chaos and the glamour.

Empathetic Approach

“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

Amy Martin
Amy Martin

A software engineer and tech writer with over a decade of experience in AI and cloud computing, passionate about demystifying complex technologies.