The actress and writer exploring her side-splitting comedy depicting that messy glamour of younger generation existence

Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and immediately begins an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, seeming truly remorseful. She is only a bit behind, she wants to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, during an interview, that’s exactly what one hopes to experience. Besides, it’s pretty predictable. Viewers familiar with the unapologetically queer and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with the director and starred in with collaborator the talented actress—would be aware that she possesses much to discuss, ranging from about identity, relationships, or the merits of starting a teen combat group. And, after watching her new multi-episode show I Love LA, viewers realize that she holds additional thoughts about the darker side of modern youth (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as a relatable figure for this generation, straddling eras with a knack for connecting different age groups).

Influences and Artistic Direction

The comparisons to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and Sennott is a fan, referencing it alongside Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as inspirations for her series, which tracks the travails of online personality Tallulah and ally and new representative Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the largest presence on concept went to the popular sitcom, the show about an up-and-coming celebrity navigating in a corrupt LA scene (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She discovered it during the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and decided to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.

“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she notes. The concept for I Love LA came—to some extent—from personal, at first fractious, relocation to LA and from her saturn return, a popular event for followers. That period marked an era that included her grasp major life lessons, work-wise and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Starting Out

Brought up in Connecticut, Sennott started developing and showcasing stand-up while enrolled in performance 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 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.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”

Sennott took matters into her own hands, appearing at open mics with Edebiri and uploading hilarious (and distinctly) bizarre comedy videos online. One, Baby Cult, followed several females intensely fixated on having babies; a different one envisioned working at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being trapped in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she met Seligman through campus film circles and ended up starring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a religious event with echoes of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her path, she explains, has been people her own age supporting her, as opposed to traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, continuing with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”

Manifesting Dreams

Those who questioned about Sennott previously will surely be feeling foolish now. As part of she calls a “incredibly circular” development, she seems to have created her dream vehicle. Previously she shared content called “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she parodied movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a comedy about LA residents juggling advantages of digital stardom (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your friend being labeled as being a substance-abusing stealer, and possibly becoming a risky outcast). Some could easy to produce a show about internet celebrity that was extremely glamorous—or, more problematic, one that mocked at the characters. This show avoids both, creating a portrait of advantaged twentysomething living that’s honest about the grot and the glamour.

Empathetic Approach

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