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Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and at once launches into an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, appearing truly apologetic. Although she's only a bit delayed, she feels compelled to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, during an interview, this is exactly what one hopes to encounter. Besides, it’s quite unsurprising. Viewers who know the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—that she co-wrote with her creative partner and starred in with close companion the talented actress—would understand that Sennott has plenty to share, ranging from about identity, intimacy, or the merits of forming a high-school brawl society. Plus, once you finish her new eight-part HBO series titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she holds additional perspectives on the challenges of modern youth (Now in her thirties, she is a bridge for this generation, a tale-end millennial with a knack for connecting both generations).

Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction

Parallels to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being a fan, citing it in addition to the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as influences for I Love LA, which follows the journey of online personality Tallulah and ally who is also aspiring talent manager Maia. However, the largest influence on concept went to Entourage, that program depicting an emerging celebrity succeeding in an often-seedy entertainment industry (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott started watching it throughout the pandemic, became “hooked”, and chose to create a new version 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 came—in part—from firsthand, at first fractious, transition to LA and from the astrological phase, a much-talked-about occurrence for followers. This represented an era that involved her grasp some big insights, work-wise and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Starting Out

Raised in the East Coast, Sennott started writing and performing stand-up while enrolled in theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “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.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”

She seized control, taking the stage at open mics with Ayo and sharing uproarious (and very) weird comedy videos on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted a group of women obsessively obsessed with pregnancy; another portrayed being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being trapped in a scary movie. Interestingly, she met Emma through campus film circles and eventually featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a Jewish wake with shades of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her path, she explains, has been people her own age supporting her, instead of established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, adding humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”

Rising Success

Anyone who had doubts regarding her previously will surely be regretting it today. As part of she describes as a “astonishingly complete” story, she has created her dream vehicle. Previously she uploaded a video called about Los Angeles online, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a show about LA residents juggling advantages of online celebrity (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being suspected of being a drug-addled criminal, and perhaps becoming a risky pariah). It would be tempting to make a series about digital influence that was overly aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at the characters. I Love LA steers clear of each, making for a depiction of advantaged millennial living that’s candid about the grot and the appeal.

Empathetic Approach

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