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Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and at once starts an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, appearing genuinely apologetic. Although she's only slightly delayed, she needs to explain. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, during an interview, that’s precisely what is ideal to experience. Besides, it’s fairly expected. Viewers familiar with the unapologetically queer and brash movie titled Bottoms—which Sennott penned with Emma Seligman and appeared in together with close companion Ayo Edebiri—would already know that Sennott possesses plenty to share, ranging from on gender, sex, or the merits of starting a youth fight club. Furthermore, once you finish her recent multi-episode show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she carries additional insights about the struggles of Gen Z life (As a millennial, Sennott represents an honorary member of the gang, a tale-end millennial with a knack for bridging different age groups).

Inspirations and Artistic Direction

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and Sennott admits to being a fan, referencing the show together with Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as guides for I Love LA, which follows the journey of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also aspiring representative Sennott’s character. However, the biggest presence on creative vision was reserved for Entourage, that program depicting an up-and-coming A-list actor making his way in a gritty entertainment industry (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it throughout COVID-19, became “hooked”, and decided 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 says. The idea for I Love LA came—in part—from firsthand, originally fractious, move to Tinseltown and from her astrological phase, a frequently discussed occurrence for followers. It was a time that involved her grasp major insights, in her career and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Starting Out

Brought up in New England, Sennott began writing and performing comedy while enrolled in acting at a prestigious arts school. “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. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”

Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at live shows with Ayo and posting hysterical (and very) bizarre online content digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters fetishistically drawn to pregnancy; a different one portrayed working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being stuck in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Emma through NYU’s movie community and eventually appearing in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a religious event with hints of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her journey, she explains, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, rather than established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, continuing amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”

Career Breakthrough

Those who questioned regarding her then will certainly be feeling foolish today. As part of she labels a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she appears to achieved her dream vehicle. Previously she shared content titled about Los Angeles online, in which she lampooned film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about LA residents balancing advantages of internet fame (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your client being labeled as being a substance-abusing stealer, and perhaps becoming a risky outcast). One might easy to make a program about digital influence that was overly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at those depicted. I Love LA avoids both, making for a representation of privileged young adult life that’s candid 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 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