Rachel Sennott discussing her side-splitting series portraying the chaotic allure of today's youth life

The star joins the online meeting and at once begins an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, sounding really remorseful. Although she's only a bit delayed, she feels compelled to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, for a writer, that’s exactly what is ideal to experience. Moreover, it’s fairly expected. Anyone familiar with her unapologetically queer and unapologetically crass project Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with the director and starred in with collaborator the talented actress—would be aware that Sennott possesses plenty to share, be it on roles, relationships, or the merits of forming a teen combat group. And, once you finish the new multi-episode show I Love LA, viewers realize that she holds additional insights about the darker side of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott serves as a bridge for this generation, on the cusp with a knack for straddling different age groups).

Influences and Storytelling Approach

The comparisons to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott is a fan, naming it alongside Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as inspirations for her series, which tracks the struggles of an influencer Tallulah and her friend who is also fledgling talent manager Maia. However, the largest influence on concept went to the HBO series, the program about a rising A-list actor succeeding in an often-seedy LA scene (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it throughout lockdown, became “captivated”, and decided 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 explains. The idea for I Love LA originated—to some extent—from firsthand, originally fractious, move to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a popular phenomenon for followers. It was an era that involved her learn some big truths, in her career and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” 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…”

Humble Origins

Brought up in the East Coast, Sennott began developing and showcasing comedy while pursuing performance at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”

Sennott seized control, taking the stage at live shows with her friend and uploading uproarious (and very) bizarre online content online. One, Baby Cult, centered on several females intensely drawn to pregnancy; a different one portrayed working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being trapped in a horror film. Interestingly, she met Emma through NYU’s movie community and ended up starring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of the intense thriller. The big theme of her path, she says, has been people her own age supporting her, instead of the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, adding humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”

Manifesting Dreams

Those who questioned regarding her then will certainly be kicking themselves now. In what she describes as a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she seems to have created an ideal role. In 2019 she uploaded a clip titled “it’s LA” online, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about LA residents balancing the perks of online celebrity (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your client being accused of being a drug-addled thief, and possibly becoming a unreliable pariah). It would be simple to create a program about digital influence that was overly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that belittled at its subjects. I Love LA avoids both, creating a portrait of advantaged twentysomething living that’s honest about the chaos and the glamour.

Nuanced Portrayal

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