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Rachel Sennott joins the digital interview and at once launches into an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, sounding really regretful. Although she's only a bit behind, she needs to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, in this context, this is precisely what is ideal to hear. Moreover, it’s pretty expected. Anyone familiar with the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass project Bottoms—that she penned with her creative partner and appeared in alongside close companion the talented actress—will understand that Sennott holds plenty to share, whether on gender, sex, or the appeal of starting a high-school brawl society. And, by the end the new multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star carries further perspectives about the darker side of modern youth (As a millennial, she represents a bridge to younger audiences, straddling eras adept for bridging both generations).

Influences and Artistic Direction

The comparisons to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being enthusiastic, citing the show in addition to the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as influences for her series, which details the journey of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also fledgling representative Sennott’s character. However, the most significant presence on creative vision was reserved for the popular sitcom, the show focusing on a rising Hollywood star navigating in an often-seedy Hollywood (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it amid lockdown, became “captivated”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.

“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she notes. The inspiration for the series emerged—partly—from firsthand, initially difficult, move to Tinseltown and from her cosmic event, a popular event for enthusiasts. That period marked a phase that saw her learn 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 was almost like these biblical tests …”

Starting Out

Brought up in Connecticut, the star began creating and acting 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 says. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”

Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at open mics with Ayo and sharing hilarious (and distinctly) unconventional online content online. One, titled Baby Cult, centered on a group of women obsessively obsessed with pregnancy; a different one portrayed working at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being stuck in a scary movie. By chance, she connected with Seligman through campus film circles and ended up featuring in her first film, Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a funeral gathering with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her path, she explains, has been peers offering opportunities, as opposed to traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, continuing amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Career Breakthrough

Those who had doubts about her then will likely be kicking themselves currently. Through she calls a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she appears to manifested an ideal role. In 2019 she posted content named “it’s LA” on social media, in which she lampooned film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a show about Angelenos balancing benefits of online celebrity (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your client being accused of being a drug-addled thief, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). Some could easy to make a program about digital influence that was horribly aspirational—or, worse, one that belittled at its subjects. I Love LA steers clear of each, resulting in a representation of affluent millennial living that’s candid about the chaos and the glamour.

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 comments. “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