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Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and immediately launches into an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, appearing genuinely apologetic. Although she's only slightly behind, she wants to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, during an interview, this is precisely what one hopes to hear. Besides, it’s fairly predictable. Viewers who have seen her unapologetically queer and brash film titled Bottoms—that she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and starred in alongside collaborator the talented actress—can understand that she holds a lot to share, ranging from about gender, sex, or the appeal of creating a high-school fight club. And, by the end the latest seasonal show titled I Love LA, it is clear that she carries additional perspectives about the struggles of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as a bridge to younger audiences, on the cusp skilled for straddling both generations).

Inspirations and Storytelling Approach

The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, naming the show in addition to the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as guides for the project, which tracks the struggles of an influencer Tallulah and her friend and fledgling representative Maia. However, the largest presence on concept belonged to the HBO series, the show about an up-and-coming A-list actor making his way in a gritty entertainment industry (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott discovered it during COVID-19, became “hooked”, and resolved 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 says. The inspiration for I Love LA emerged—in part—from her own, at first fractious, transition to Los Angeles and from the astrological phase, a much-talked-about event for astrology heads. That period marked a time that saw her learn significant insights, work-wise and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “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

Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing stand-up while enrolled in performance 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 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 took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at live shows with her friend and sharing uproarious (and decidedly) bizarre online content digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted a group of women obsessively fixated on having babies; a different one imagined being employed at the brand Hollister as similar to being trapped in a thriller. By chance, she encountered Seligman through the university’s film scene and eventually appearing in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a Jewish wake with shades of the intense thriller. The central motif of her path, she notes, has been people her own age offering opportunities, rather than established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, continuing humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”

Career Breakthrough

Those who questioned about her earlier will surely be kicking themselves currently. Through she describes as a “wild, full-circle” development, she has manifested her dream vehicle. A few years back she posted a video called on LA life on the internet, in which she lampooned film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a show about city dwellers balancing the perks of internet fame (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being suspected of being a drug-addled thief, and perhaps becoming a risky persona non grata). It would be easy to produce a program about digital influence that was overly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that mocked at those depicted. I Love LA avoids both, resulting in a portrait of privileged millennial existence that’s frank about the chaos and the shine.

Balanced Perspective

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