Rachel Sennott on the uproarious show about the messy allure of today's youth life

The performer joins the digital interview and at once begins an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, seeming truly regretful. Despite being only a bit delayed, she feels compelled to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Fortunately, for a writer, that’s exactly what one hopes to hear. Moreover, it’s pretty expected. Viewers who know the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and brash film titled Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with the director and starred in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—will be aware that Sennott has plenty to say, ranging from on gender, relationships, or the pros of forming a teen fight club. Furthermore, once you finish her new multi-episode program I Love LA, viewers realize that she has even more perspectives about the struggles of modern youth (At 30, she serves as a relatable figure to younger audiences, on the cusp skilled for straddling both generations).

Influences and Storytelling Approach

The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott is an admirer, referencing it in addition to the classic series, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for I Love LA, which tracks the struggles of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also fledgling representative Maia. However, the most significant influence on creative vision belonged to the HBO series, the program focusing on an emerging A-list actor succeeding in a gritty Hollywood (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She discovered it throughout COVID-19, became “hooked”, and decided to add a fresh perspective on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.

“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she notes. The inspiration for I Love LA came—in part—from her own, at first fractious, move to LA and from her astrological phase, a popular event for astrology heads. That period marked an era that saw her learn major truths, professionally and in private life. “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. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”

Early Beginnings

Growing up in Connecticut, Sennott commenced writing and performing humor while studying theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “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.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

She took matters into her own hands, appearing at amateur nights with her friend and sharing hysterical (and very) weird comedy videos online. One, titled Baby Cult, centered on several females obsessively drawn to motherhood; a different one imagined being employed at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being caught in a horror film. By chance, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her path, she says, has been people her own age giving her a shot, rather than the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she confirms, stating humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”

Manifesting Dreams

Those who were skeptical regarding Sennott previously will surely be feeling foolish today. As part of she labels a “astonishingly complete” story, she seems to have achieved an ideal role. A few years back she posted content called on LA life online, in which she parodied film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a series about city dwellers managing benefits of online celebrity (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being labeled as being a drug-addled thief, and possibly becoming a risky pariah). Some could tempting to make a show about digital influence that was horribly aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at those depicted. This show does neither, resulting in a portrait of affluent twentysomething existence that’s candid about the grot and the appeal.

Nuanced Portrayal

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

Gina Cochran
Gina Cochran

Elena Voss is a Minecraft enthusiast and writer who loves exploring virtual worlds and sharing creative building strategies.