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Rachel Sennott enters the video call and immediately starts an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, appearing genuinely regretful. Although she's only a bit delayed, she needs to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s just what is ideal to encounter. Additionally, it’s pretty expected. Viewers who have seen the boldly openly gay and brash project Bottoms—which she co-wrote with the director and featured in alongside close companion Ayo Edebiri—will understand that she holds a lot to discuss, ranging from on gender, intimacy, or the merits of forming a teen brawl society. Furthermore, once you finish her recent multi-episode program titled I Love LA, it is clear that she carries further perspectives regarding the struggles of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as a relatable figure of the gang, on the cusp skilled for connecting both generations).

Guiding Lights and Creative Vision

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and Sennott admits to being an admirer, citing the show in addition to Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as guides for her series, which details the struggles of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion who is also aspiring talent manager Sennott’s character. However, the biggest presence on concept went to the popular sitcom, the HBO sitcom focusing on an emerging A-list actor navigating in an often-seedy Hollywood (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott started watching it during lockdown, became “obsessed”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.

“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she notes. The concept for this project emerged—to some extent—from her own, initially rocky, relocation to Los Angeles and from her cosmic event, a much-talked-about occurrence for followers. It was an era that involved her grasp major insights, in her career and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Humble Origins

Brought up in the East Coast, the star started developing and showcasing humor while pursuing acting at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

Sennott took matters into her own hands, appearing at amateur nights with her friend and posting uproarious (and very) bizarre online content digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed several females fetishistically fixated on motherhood; a different one portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being caught in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Seligman through campus film circles and ended up featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a religious event with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her path, she explains, has been peers giving her a shot, as opposed to the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, adding amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”

Rising Success

Those who were skeptical regarding Sennott previously will certainly be kicking themselves today. Through she calls a “astonishingly complete” story, she appears to achieved her dream vehicle. In 2019 she shared a video titled about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she mocked film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a comedy about LA residents juggling advantages of digital stardom (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your friend being accused of being a substance-abusing criminal, and possibly becoming a risky pariah). It would be easy to create a show about online fame that was extremely idealized—or, worse, one that punched down at its subjects. I Love LA avoids both, making for a portrait of advantaged twentysomething existence that’s honest about the grot 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 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