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Rachel Sennott enters the video call and at once starts an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, appearing really remorseful. Despite being only a couple of minutes delayed, she needs to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, for a writer, this is precisely what you want to experience. Besides, it’s quite unsurprising. Those who have seen the unapologetically openly gay and unapologetically crass movie titled Bottoms—that she penned with the director and appeared in alongside close companion the talented actress—can be aware that she holds a lot to say, whether about gender, sex, or the pros of forming a teen fight club. Plus, by the end her latest multi-episode program I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries further perspectives on the darker side of modern youth (At 30, Sennott serves as a bridge of the gang, on the cusp adept for straddling different age groups).

Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach

Likenesses to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress is an admirer, citing the show alongside the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as influences for I Love LA, which follows the travails of a social media star Tallulah and her friend and fledgling representative Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the largest presence on creative vision went to the popular sitcom, the show depicting an up-and-coming Hollywood star succeeding in an often-seedy LA scene (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She discovered it throughout COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and decided to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.

“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she says. The concept for this project came—in part—from personal, at first rocky, move to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a popular event for enthusiasts. It was an era that included her learn significant insights, work-wise and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” 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

Raised in the East Coast, Sennott commenced creating and acting humor while studying theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “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.”

She decided to act independently, taking the stage at live shows with Ayo and posting uproarious (and very) unconventional comedy videos on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed characters fetishistically fixated on motherhood; a different one portrayed being employed at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being stuck in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ultimately starring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her career, she explains, has been people her own age supporting her, rather than the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she confirms, continuing amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Manifesting Dreams

Anyone who were skeptical regarding Sennott earlier will surely be regretting it now. In what she calls a “astonishingly complete” development, she seems to have achieved an ideal role. A few years back she posted a video titled about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she mocked movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about city dwellers juggling the perks of digital stardom (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being suspected of being a substance-abusing criminal, and possibly becoming a risky outcast). One might simple to create a series about digital influence that was horribly idealized—or, worse, one that punched down at those depicted. The series steers clear of each, making for a portrait of affluent twentysomething existence that’s honest about the mess and the shine.

Empathetic Approach

“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