🔗 Share this article

Rachel Sennott joins the video call and immediately launches into an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, sounding truly apologetic. Despite being only slightly late, she needs to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, during an interview, this is just what one hopes to experience. Additionally, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone who know her unapologetically queer and brash project Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with Emma Seligman and starred in with close companion the talented actress—will already know that she has much to share, whether on identity, relationships, or the pros of starting a youth fight club. And, by the end the new seasonal show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has additional perspectives on the struggles of young adulthood (At 30, she is a relatable figure to younger audiences, on the cusp skilled for connecting both generations).

Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach

The comparisons to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and Sennott admits to being enthusiastic, citing the show in addition to Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as influences for I Love LA, which tracks the journey of online personality Tallulah and her friend and new talent manager portrayed by Sennott. However, the biggest influence on concept belonged to Entourage, the show depicting an up-and-coming A-list actor making his way in a corrupt Hollywood (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott discovered it throughout lockdown, became “obsessed”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.

“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she explains. The concept for I Love LA originated—in part—from personal, originally difficult, relocation to LA and from the saturn return, a frequently discussed phenomenon for followers. It was an era that saw her grasp some big insights, in her career and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “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…”

Early Beginnings

Raised in the East Coast, the star began developing and showcasing stand-up while enrolled in theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at open mics with Ayo and posting uproarious (and distinctly) weird skits digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, followed characters fetishistically drawn to motherhood; a different one envisioned working at the brand Hollister as similar to being trapped in a scary movie. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately starring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the intense thriller. The big theme of her career, she says, has been people her own age giving her a shot, instead of traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she confirms, continuing humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”

Rising Success

Anyone who had doubts regarding her earlier will likely be regretting it today. In what she labels a “wild, full-circle” development, she appears to achieved an ideal role. A few years back she shared content titled on LA life online, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about Angelenos balancing the perks of digital stardom (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your client being labeled as being a intoxicated stealer, and perhaps becoming a unreliable persona non grata). One might tempting to make a series about digital influence that was overly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that punched down at the characters. The series does neither, creating a representation of affluent twentysomething existence that’s honest about the grot and the glamour.

Balanced Perspective

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