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Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and immediately launches into an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, sounding truly regretful. She is only a couple of minutes behind, she wants to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, during an interview, that’s precisely what you want to experience. Additionally, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone familiar with the boldly queer and outspoken project titled Bottoms—which she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and featured in together with close companion Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that Sennott holds a lot to share, ranging from on gender, sex, or the merits of forming a youth brawl society. And, once you finish her recent multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star has additional thoughts on the struggles of modern youth (As a millennial, she represents an honorary member of the gang, a tale-end millennial with a knack for bridging both generations).

Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach

Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, referencing the show alongside Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as influences for her series, which details the struggles of a social media star Tallulah and ally and fledgling talent manager Maia. Perhaps, the biggest influence on concept went to Entourage, that program about a rising A-list actor succeeding in a corrupt Hollywood (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it throughout COVID-19, became “captivated”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.

“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The inspiration for I Love LA came—in part—from personal, at first difficult, relocation to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a frequently discussed event for enthusiasts. It was a phase that involved her understand some big insights, professionally and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”

Humble Origins

Raised in New England, Sennott commenced writing and performing comedy while studying performance at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”

Sennott seized control, taking the stage at open mics with Ayo and uploading uproarious (and very) unconventional online content online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed characters obsessively fixated on pregnancy; another imagined being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being stuck in a scary movie. Interestingly, she connected with Emma through campus film circles and ultimately appearing in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her journey, she notes, has been people her own age giving her a shot, as opposed to the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, adding with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Career Breakthrough

Individuals who had doubts regarding Sennott earlier will likely be kicking themselves now. In what she describes as a “incredibly circular” development, she appears to achieved her dream vehicle. In 2019 she uploaded a clip titled “it’s LA” on social media, in which she mocked movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a comedy about LA residents juggling the perks of online celebrity (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being labeled as being a intoxicated thief, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). One might easy to make a series about online fame that was extremely glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at those depicted. The series does neither, resulting in a depiction of affluent young adult life that’s frank about the mess and the glamour.

Balanced Perspective

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