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Rachel Sennott joins the video call and immediately starts an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, sounding truly apologetic. Although she's only a bit delayed, she wants to explain. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, for a writer, this is exactly what you want to hear. Besides, it’s pretty predictable. Those who know her fearlessly openly gay and outspoken project titled Bottoms—that Sennott penned with her creative partner and appeared in with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—can understand that she holds a lot to say, ranging from about identity, intimacy, or the merits of creating a teen fight club. And, after watching her latest seasonal show titled I Love LA, viewers realize that the star holds additional perspectives regarding the challenges of young adulthood (At 30, Sennott serves as an honorary member of the gang, a tale-end millennial adept for straddling different age groups).

Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach

Parallels to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and the actress is a fan, naming it alongside Sex and the City, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as guides for the project, which details the travails of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also fledgling talent manager Maia. However, the biggest spot on concept belonged to the popular sitcom, the show depicting an emerging A-list actor succeeding in an often-seedy Hollywood (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott started watching it during the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and decided to put her own twist 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 explains. The concept for the series emerged—to some extent—from her own, initially fractious, move to LA and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed event for astrology heads. This represented a phase that saw her grasp major life lessons, in her career and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”

Humble Origins

Raised in Connecticut, the star commenced writing and performing stand-up while studying acting at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “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 took matters into her own hands, appearing at amateur nights with her friend and sharing hysterical (and decidedly) bizarre skits on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted several females fetishistically fixated on having babies; a different one imagined being employed at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being caught in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she met Seligman through campus film circles and eventually starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a funeral gathering with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her journey, she notes, has been peers supporting her, instead of established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, adding with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”

Rising Success

Anyone who were skeptical about Sennott then will certainly be feeling foolish now. Through she labels a “wild, full-circle” story, she has achieved the perfect project. Previously she posted a clip called “it’s LA” on social media, in which she lampooned film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a show about LA residents balancing the perks of online celebrity (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your friend being suspected of being a intoxicated thief, and potentially becoming a risky outcast). It would be simple to create a program about online fame that was overly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA does neither, creating a representation of affluent millennial life that’s candid about the grot and the appeal.

Balanced Perspective

“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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