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Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and at once begins an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, sounding truly regretful. Despite being only a couple of minutes late, she wants to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, in this context, that’s just what one hopes to hear. Additionally, it’s pretty unsurprising. Viewers who know the boldly queer and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—that she co-wrote with the director and appeared in together with close companion the talented actress—can be aware that she holds plenty to share, be it on roles, relationships, or the merits of creating a youth combat group. And, by the end the latest seasonal program titled I Love LA, it is clear that she holds even more thoughts about the challenges of modern youth (Now in her thirties, she serves as a bridge for this generation, straddling eras skilled for connecting millennials and Gen Z).

Influences and Artistic Direction

Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and Sennott admits to being a fan, referencing the show together with Sex and the City, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as guides for her series, which details the travails of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also fledgling agent Maia. Perhaps, the largest spot on concept went to the popular sitcom, the program focusing on an up-and-coming A-list actor succeeding in an often-seedy Hollywood (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She began viewing it during lockdown, became “obsessed”, and decided to create a new version on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.

“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The idea for the series emerged—partly—from firsthand, originally rocky, transition to LA and from the cosmic event, a much-talked-about event for astrology heads. That period marked a phase that involved her learn some big 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 was almost like these biblical tests …”

Humble Origins

Brought up in New England, Sennott began writing and performing stand-up while studying performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” 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.”

She decided to act independently, appearing at amateur nights with Edebiri and uploading hysterical (and very) unconventional skits online. One, Baby Cult, centered on several females intensely fixated on pregnancy; a different one envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as like being stuck in a scary movie. By chance, she connected with Seligman through the university’s film scene and ultimately appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a religious event with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her journey, she says, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, as opposed to traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, stating with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”

Manifesting Dreams

Anyone who questioned about her earlier will likely be regretting it today. In what she labels a “incredibly circular” development, she has achieved her dream vehicle. Previously she shared a video named on LA life online, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a series about LA residents juggling the perks of digital stardom (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your client being accused of being a drug-addled stealer, and possibly becoming a risky pariah). Some could simple to make a program about internet celebrity that was overly idealized—or, worse, one that belittled at its subjects. The series steers clear of each, making for a representation of advantaged twentysomething existence that’s candid about the grot and the shine.

Nuanced Portrayal

“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” she says. “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