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Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and immediately launches into an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, sounding genuinely regretful. She is only a bit late, she needs 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!” Luckily, for a writer, this is precisely what is ideal to hear. Moreover, it’s fairly predictable. Anyone who have seen the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and brash film Bottoms—that she co-wrote with her creative partner and appeared in together with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—can already know that she possesses a lot to discuss, whether about gender, sex, or the merits of creating a teen brawl society. Plus, once you finish her recent seasonal show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star carries further thoughts regarding the struggles of Gen Z life (At 30, she serves as a relatable figure to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial adept for straddling different age groups).

Inspirations and Artistic Direction

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and Sennott admits to being enthusiastic, referencing it alongside Sex and the City, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for the project, which follows the struggles of a social media star Tallulah and close companion who is also aspiring talent manager Sennott’s character. Notably, the largest presence on the moodboard was reserved for Entourage, that HBO sitcom depicting an emerging Hollywood star making his way in an often-seedy Hollywood (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott began viewing it during COVID-19, became “captivated”, and chose to add a fresh perspective 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 inspiration for this project originated—to some extent—from her own, at first rocky, move to LA and from the saturn return, a much-talked-about phenomenon for astrology heads. It was an era that saw her grasp significant truths, professionally and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. It was almost like these biblical tests …”

Early Beginnings

Raised in the East Coast, the star commenced creating and acting humor while studying 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. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”

Sennott took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at amateur nights with her friend and uploading hysterical (and decidedly) weird skits online. One, titled Baby Cult, centered on a group of women intensely obsessed with having babies; a different one envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being stuck in a horror film. By chance, she met Emma through campus film circles and eventually appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her path, she explains, has been people her own age offering opportunities, rather than the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, adding with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Rising Success

Those who questioned about Sennott previously will likely be regretting it now. Through she describes as a “astonishingly complete” development, she seems to have manifested her dream vehicle. Previously she uploaded a clip called “it’s LA” online, in which she mocked film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about Angelenos juggling advantages of online celebrity (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your client being suspected of being a substance-abusing criminal, and potentially becoming a unreliable outcast). It would be tempting to produce a show about digital influence that was extremely glamorous—or, more problematic, one that mocked at those depicted. I Love LA does neither, creating a depiction of privileged twentysomething life that’s candid about the chaos and the appeal.

Nuanced Portrayal

“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