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Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and at once starts an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, appearing genuinely apologetic. Although she's only a bit late, she feels compelled to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, during an interview, this is exactly what one hopes to hear. Additionally, it’s quite predictable. Anyone who have seen the fearlessly openly gay and brash movie Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with the director and appeared in with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will understand that she has a lot to say, be it about roles, intimacy, or the pros of starting a youth combat group. And, after watching her recent multi-episode show I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has additional insights regarding the challenges of Gen Z life (At 30, she represents a relatable figure for this generation, on the cusp adept for bridging different age groups).

Guiding Lights and Creative Vision

Likenesses to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being a fan, naming it in addition to Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as guides for her series, which follows the struggles of a social media star Tallulah and ally and fledgling agent Maia. However, the most significant influence on the moodboard went to the HBO series, the show depicting an emerging celebrity navigating in a gritty LA scene (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott started watching it amid the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and resolved to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.

“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she notes. The concept for I Love LA emerged—in part—from firsthand, originally fractious, relocation to LA and from the astrological phase, a popular occurrence for astrology heads. It was an era that included her understand some big insights, professionally and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”

Starting Out

Growing up in Connecticut, Sennott began writing and performing stand-up while enrolled in performance at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. 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 decided to act independently, appearing at open mics with her friend and uploading hilarious (and very) unconventional comedy videos online. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed characters intensely drawn to having babies; a different one imagined working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being trapped in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she met Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up starring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a religious event with echoes of the intense thriller. The big theme of her path, she explains, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, instead of established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, stating with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”

Manifesting Dreams

Anyone who had doubts regarding Sennott earlier will likely be regretting it now. As part of she calls a “wild, full-circle” story, she seems to have manifested her dream vehicle. In 2019 she shared a clip titled on LA life on the internet, in which she lampooned film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a series about Angelenos juggling the perks of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your associate being suspected of being a drug-addled stealer, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). It would be simple to make a program about internet celebrity that was overly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at those depicted. I Love LA steers clear of each, making for a depiction of advantaged twentysomething living that’s frank about the chaos and the appeal.

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