🔗 Share this article

Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and right away launches into an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, appearing truly regretful. Despite being only slightly behind, she wants to justify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s just what you want to experience. Moreover, it’s fairly expected. Viewers familiar with the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—which she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and starred in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—will already know that Sennott has a lot to discuss, whether about identity, intimacy, or the merits of starting a high-school combat group. Furthermore, by the end the new seasonal show titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries even more thoughts regarding the challenges of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott is a bridge of the gang, a tale-end millennial with a knack for straddling both generations).

Influences and Artistic Direction

Parallels to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and Sennott admits to being a fan, citing the show in addition to Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as inspirations for the project, which details the struggles of an influencer Tallulah and her friend and new representative portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the largest presence on concept belonged to Entourage, that program about an emerging celebrity succeeding in a corrupt LA scene (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott discovered it throughout lockdown, became “obsessed”, and decided 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 explains. The idea for the series originated—to some extent—from firsthand, originally rocky, move to Tinseltown and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed event for enthusiasts. That period marked a time that saw her grasp significant life lessons, professionally and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Early Beginnings

Raised in the East Coast, the star began writing and performing humor while studying performance at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “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.”

She seized control, performing at amateur nights with Ayo and posting hysterical (and distinctly) weird online content digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, centered on a group of women fetishistically drawn to pregnancy; a different one imagined working at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being trapped in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she met Emma through NYU’s movie community and eventually appearing in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her career, she explains, has been people her own age giving her a shot, rather than established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, stating amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”

Manifesting Dreams

Individuals who were skeptical regarding her then will certainly be feeling foolish now. Through she labels a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she has achieved her dream vehicle. Previously she posted content named on LA life on the internet, in which she parodied film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a comedy about city dwellers managing advantages of online celebrity (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your client being accused of being a intoxicated thief, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). Some could easy to produce a program about internet celebrity that was extremely aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at those depicted. This show steers clear of each, creating a depiction of affluent millennial existence that’s candid about the chaos and the shine.

Nuanced Portrayal

“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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