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Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and immediately launches into an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, appearing really apologetic. She is only a bit delayed, she feels compelled to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, during an interview, that’s just what one hopes to encounter. Additionally, it’s pretty unsurprising. Those who have seen the fearlessly queer and outspoken project titled Bottoms—which she co-wrote with Emma Seligman and featured in alongside her friend the talented actress—will already know that she holds a lot to share, whether on gender, relationships, or the pros of starting a teen brawl society. Furthermore, once you finish her recent seasonal HBO series titled I Love LA, viewers realize that the star carries even more insights about the challenges of young adulthood (At 30, Sennott serves as a relatable figure of the gang, a tale-end millennial adept for bridging millennials and Gen Z).

Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction

Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and the actress is a fan, naming it alongside the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as influences for I Love LA, which details the journey of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion who is also new talent manager Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the most significant presence on the moodboard was reserved for the popular sitcom, that show about an up-and-coming celebrity succeeding in a gritty Hollywood (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it amid lockdown, became “captivated”, and resolved 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 inspiration for the series emerged—to some extent—from firsthand, originally rocky, relocation to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a popular occurrence for followers. This represented a phase that saw her learn some big truths, professionally and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Early Beginnings

Raised in the East Coast, Sennott began writing and performing stand-up while studying acting at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “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 live shows with Ayo and uploading hilarious (and distinctly) bizarre online content on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women fetishistically obsessed with having babies; a different one imagined working at the brand Hollister as like being trapped in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she met Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately starring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a funeral gathering with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her career, she explains, has been contemporaries supporting her, instead of traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she confirms, stating amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”

Manifesting Dreams

Individuals who questioned regarding her earlier will certainly be regretting it currently. As part of she labels a “astonishingly complete” story, she seems to have achieved her dream vehicle. A few years back she shared a video named about Los Angeles on social media, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about Angelenos balancing advantages of internet fame (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being labeled as being a drug-addled stealer, and perhaps becoming a unreliable pariah). One might easy to produce a series about internet celebrity that was overly aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at the characters. I Love LA does neither, resulting in a depiction of affluent millennial existence that’s honest about the chaos and the glamour.

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