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Rachel Sennott enters the video call and right away starts an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, seeming genuinely remorseful. Despite being only a couple of minutes behind, she feels compelled to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s just what is ideal to hear. Moreover, it’s pretty unsurprising. Anyone who know her boldly LGBTQ+ and brash movie Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and starred in alongside close companion the talented actress—can already know that Sennott holds a lot to share, whether about identity, intimacy, or the appeal of starting a teen fight club. Furthermore, after watching the recent eight-part show I Love LA, viewers realize that she carries additional thoughts on the struggles of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott is an honorary member for this generation, on the cusp with a knack for connecting different age groups).

Influences and Creative Vision

The comparisons to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being enthusiastic, referencing it alongside the HBO hit, Insecure and the innovative program as inspirations for I Love LA, which details the struggles of an influencer Tallulah and her friend and new agent portrayed by Sennott. However, the biggest influence on concept went to the popular sitcom, the HBO sitcom focusing on an up-and-coming Hollywood star succeeding in a corrupt entertainment industry (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She discovered it during COVID-19, became “hooked”, and resolved to put her own twist 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 explains. The concept for the series emerged—partly—from personal, at first fractious, relocation to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a frequently discussed occurrence for followers. It was a phase that included her learn significant insights, work-wise and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” 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 …”

Starting Out

Growing up in New England, Sennott began creating and acting humor while pursuing theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”

Sennott decided to act independently, taking the stage at open mics with Ayo and uploading hysterical (and distinctly) bizarre skits on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted characters fetishistically obsessed with having babies; a different one imagined working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being stuck in a scary movie. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through NYU’s movie community and eventually starring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her career, she explains, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, instead of the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, stating humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Career Breakthrough

Individuals who were skeptical about Sennott previously will likely be feeling foolish now. In what she labels a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she seems to have created an ideal role. Previously she uploaded a video titled “it’s LA” online, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a show about Angelenos balancing the perks of internet fame (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being suspected of being a substance-abusing criminal, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). Some could simple to create a show about internet celebrity that was horribly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at its subjects. The series avoids both, creating a representation of affluent millennial living that’s honest about the grot and the glamour.

Nuanced Portrayal

“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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