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Rachel Sennott joins the video call and immediately starts an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, seeming truly remorseful. She is only slightly delayed, she needs to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, in this context, that’s exactly what is ideal to hear. Additionally, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone familiar with her fearlessly openly gay and unapologetically crass project Bottoms—that she penned with Emma Seligman and starred in with her friend Ayo Edebiri—can be aware that she holds plenty to say, be it on roles, intimacy, or the appeal of starting a youth combat group. And, by the end the new eight-part HBO series I Love LA, it is clear that she has additional insights on the darker side of modern youth (At 30, she represents a bridge to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial adept for straddling millennials and Gen Z).

Influences and Storytelling Approach

Parallels to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and Sennott is a fan, referencing the show alongside the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for I Love LA, which follows the journey of an influencer Tallulah and ally who is also aspiring talent manager Maia. Perhaps, the most significant presence on the moodboard was reserved for the HBO series, the HBO sitcom depicting a rising Hollywood star succeeding in a gritty LA scene (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it amid COVID-19, became “hooked”, and decided to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.

“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she notes. The idea for this project came—to some extent—from her own, originally rocky, move to LA and from the astrological phase, a popular phenomenon for enthusiasts. That period marked a time that involved her learn significant truths, work-wise and individually. “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 resembled a series of extreme challenges…”

Early Beginnings

Raised in New England, Sennott started developing and showcasing stand-up while studying performance at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at live shows with Edebiri and posting hysterical (and very) weird skits digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women intensely obsessed with motherhood; another envisioned working at the brand Hollister as akin to being stuck in a scary movie. Interestingly, she met Emma through campus film circles and eventually starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her path, she says, has been people her own age offering opportunities, instead of traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she repeats, adding with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”

Career Breakthrough

Anyone who had doubts about Sennott then will surely be kicking themselves today. Through she calls a “wild, full-circle” development, she has manifested an ideal role. Previously she uploaded content called “it’s LA” online, in which she mocked film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about city dwellers juggling benefits of digital stardom (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your associate being suspected of being a drug-addled criminal, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). One might easy to make a show about internet celebrity that was extremely idealized—or, more problematic, one that punched down at those depicted. I Love LA does neither, creating a portrait of privileged twentysomething existence that’s frank about the grot and the shine.

Empathetic Approach

“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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