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Rachel Sennott appears on the digital interview and right away begins an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, sounding really apologetic. Despite being only a couple of minutes behind, she needs to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, during an interview, this is precisely what you want to experience. Additionally, it’s pretty predictable. Those familiar with the fearlessly queer and unapologetically crass movie titled Bottoms—which she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and starred in together with close companion The Bear’s standout—would understand that she holds much to discuss, be it about gender, sex, or the appeal of creating a high-school combat group. Plus, once you finish the new multi-episode HBO series I Love LA, viewers realize that she has even more perspectives about the challenges of young adulthood (At 30, she represents a bridge to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial adept for bridging different age groups).

Guiding Lights and Creative Vision

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being an admirer, naming it together with the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as guides for the project, which tracks the travails of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and fledgling representative Maia. Perhaps, the most significant spot on the moodboard was reserved for the HBO series, the show focusing on a rising Hollywood star navigating in an often-seedy LA scene (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott began viewing it amid lockdown, became “hooked”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.

“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she notes. The concept for this project came—to some extent—from firsthand, initially rocky, transition to LA and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed phenomenon for enthusiasts. That period marked a time that saw her understand major life lessons, professionally and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” 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 resembled a series of extreme challenges…”

Humble Origins

Brought up in Connecticut, Sennott started developing and showcasing humor while studying 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. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”

Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at open mics with her friend and posting hilarious (and very) unconventional online content digitally. One, Baby Cult, depicted characters obsessively fixated on pregnancy; a different one portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being trapped in a thriller. By chance, she connected with Seligman through campus film circles and eventually featuring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a religious event with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her career, she notes, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, instead of traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, continuing amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”

Rising Success

Those who questioned about her previously will likely be feeling foolish now. In what she describes as a “astonishingly complete” story, she seems to have manifested the perfect project. Previously she posted a video called on LA life online, in which she lampooned film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a series about city dwellers balancing benefits of internet fame (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your client being suspected of being a drug-addled stealer, and potentially becoming a unreliable pariah). Some could simple to make a series about internet celebrity that was horribly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that mocked at those depicted. I Love LA avoids both, creating a depiction of privileged twentysomething living that’s candid about the mess and the shine.

Balanced Perspective

“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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