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Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and at once starts an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, seeming genuinely apologetic. Although she's only a bit late, she feels compelled to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, during an interview, this is just what is ideal to encounter. Additionally, it’s pretty unsurprising. Those familiar with the boldly openly gay and unapologetically crass film titled Bottoms—which she penned with her creative partner and starred in together with collaborator the talented actress—will understand that Sennott has a lot to say, whether about gender, intimacy, or the merits of forming a teen combat group. Furthermore, by the end her latest seasonal show titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she holds additional perspectives about the challenges of young adulthood (At 30, Sennott is a bridge for this generation, on the cusp with a knack for straddling both generations).

Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach

The comparisons to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott is an admirer, naming the show alongside the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for the project, which follows the travails of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and aspiring representative Maia. Perhaps, the biggest influence on concept belonged to Entourage, the show focusing on an up-and-coming A-list actor succeeding in an often-seedy LA scene (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it amid lockdown, became “obsessed”, and decided to create a new version on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.

“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she notes. The concept for I Love LA came—in part—from personal, originally rocky, transition to Tinseltown and from her astrological phase, a frequently discussed occurrence for followers. That period marked a phase that saw her learn significant truths, work-wise and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”

Humble Origins

Brought up in New England, Sennott started writing and performing stand-up while enrolled in theatre at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”

Sennott seized control, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and sharing hilarious (and distinctly) weird online content digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women fetishistically fixated on having babies; another imagined being employed at the brand Hollister as similar to being trapped in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Seligman through the university’s film scene and eventually appearing in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the intense thriller. The big theme of her journey, she notes, has been peers offering opportunities, instead of the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, stating amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”

Manifesting Dreams

Individuals who questioned regarding her then will certainly be kicking themselves currently. Through she describes as a “astonishingly complete” development, she seems to have achieved the perfect project. Previously she uploaded a clip called about Los Angeles online, in which she parodied movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a series about LA residents juggling the perks of internet fame (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your associate being accused of being a substance-abusing thief, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). It would be easy to create a program about internet celebrity that was overly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at its subjects. I Love LA avoids both, making for a depiction of privileged twentysomething living that’s frank about the mess and the appeal.

Balanced Perspective

“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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