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Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and at once begins an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, sounding truly remorseful. She is only slightly delayed, she wants to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, in this context, this is just what is ideal to experience. Besides, it’s fairly expected. Anyone familiar with the unapologetically openly gay and outspoken project Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and featured in together with close companion the talented actress—will be aware that Sennott holds plenty to share, whether on identity, sex, or the merits of starting a teen fight club. And, after watching her new seasonal show I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star has even more insights on the darker side of young adulthood (At 30, she represents an honorary member of the gang, straddling eras with a knack for straddling millennials and Gen Z).

Influences and Creative Vision

Parallels to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott admits to being an admirer, referencing the show alongside the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as guides for I Love LA, which tracks the struggles of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and new agent portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the largest influence on creative vision went to the popular sitcom, the show about an emerging Hollywood star navigating in a gritty Hollywood (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She discovered it amid COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and decided to create a new version 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 this project emerged—in part—from her own, originally rocky, move to Tinseltown and from the saturn return, a frequently discussed occurrence for astrology heads. That period marked a time that included her understand some big life lessons, professionally and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”

Starting Out

Raised in New England, the star commenced developing and showcasing stand-up 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 states. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

Sennott took matters into her own hands, appearing at live shows with Ayo and uploading uproarious (and very) weird online content digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on a group of women obsessively fixated on having babies; another envisioned being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being stuck in a thriller. By chance, she connected with Seligman through the university’s film scene and ended up starring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she explains, has been peers offering opportunities, instead of the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, adding amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”

Manifesting Dreams

Individuals who questioned regarding her previously will surely be feeling foolish now. In what she calls a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she seems to have created an ideal role. A few years back she shared a video named on LA life on the internet, in which she parodied film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a series about LA residents balancing benefits of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being accused of being a drug-addled thief, and potentially becoming a unreliable persona non grata). It would be easy to make a show about internet celebrity that was extremely aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at those depicted. The series steers clear of each, making for a depiction of affluent twentysomething living that’s honest about the chaos and the glamour.

Nuanced Portrayal

“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