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Rachel Sennott enters the video call and right away starts an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, seeming genuinely regretful. Despite being only a couple of minutes late, she wants to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, for a writer, this is just what you want to encounter. Moreover, it’s quite expected. Anyone familiar with her fearlessly openly gay and outspoken film Bottoms—which she co-wrote with her creative partner and appeared in alongside close companion The Bear’s standout—would be aware that Sennott holds much to discuss, whether about gender, intimacy, or the merits of forming a high-school combat group. Furthermore, by the end the latest seasonal show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star carries further insights on the challenges of young adulthood (At 30, Sennott represents an honorary member for this generation, a tale-end millennial with a knack for connecting different age groups).

Influences and Artistic Direction

The comparisons to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott readily acknowledges an admirer, citing it in addition to the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as influences for her series, which follows the travails of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion who is also aspiring agent Sennott’s character. However, the biggest presence on the moodboard went to the HBO series, that show focusing on an emerging A-list actor succeeding in an often-seedy LA scene (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott began viewing it throughout the pandemic, became “captivated”, and chose 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 idea for I Love LA emerged—to some extent—from personal, initially fractious, transition to LA and from the astrological phase, a popular phenomenon for followers. This represented a phase that saw her grasp some big life lessons, in her career and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “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

Brought up in the East Coast, the star started writing and performing humor while enrolled in acting at NYU’s Tisch. “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.” I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”

Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at amateur nights with Ayo and uploading hilarious (and decidedly) weird skits on the internet. One, Baby Cult, depicted characters obsessively drawn to pregnancy; another imagined working at a trendy retail outlet as like being caught in a scary movie. By chance, she connected with Seligman through NYU’s movie community and eventually appearing in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a funeral gathering with echoes of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she explains, has been people her own age offering opportunities, as opposed to traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, continuing with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”

Career Breakthrough

Those who had doubts regarding Sennott earlier will certainly be feeling foolish currently. In what she labels a “wild, full-circle” development, she appears to achieved her dream vehicle. A few years back she shared content named “it’s LA” on social media, in which she mocked film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a comedy about city dwellers managing advantages of digital stardom (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being labeled as being a drug-addled stealer, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). One might tempting to create a show about internet celebrity that was extremely idealized—or, worse, one that belittled at those depicted. I Love LA does neither, creating a depiction of advantaged young adult existence that’s candid about the chaos and the glamour.

Balanced Perspective

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