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Rachel Sennott enters the digital interview and right away begins an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, seeming really apologetic. Despite being only slightly late, she wants to explain. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Fortunately, during an interview, that’s precisely what you want to encounter. Additionally, it’s fairly predictable. Anyone who know her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and outspoken project Bottoms—which she penned with the director and appeared in with collaborator the talented actress—can understand that Sennott possesses plenty to say, whether on roles, relationships, or the merits of creating a youth combat group. And, by the end her recent multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, viewers realize that the star has additional insights on the struggles of modern youth (Now in her thirties, Sennott represents a bridge of the gang, straddling eras with a knack for straddling different age groups).

Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction

Likenesses to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being a fan, citing the show alongside the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as influences for her series, which tracks the journey of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion who is also aspiring representative Maia. However, the largest influence on creative vision belonged to the HBO series, the HBO sitcom focusing on an up-and-coming Hollywood star succeeding in an often-seedy entertainment industry (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it during COVID-19, became “captivated”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.

“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she explains. The concept for this project originated—to some extent—from personal, initially rocky, move to Tinseltown and from the saturn return, a popular occurrence for astrology heads. This represented a time that saw her understand significant truths, in her career and personally. “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 was almost like these biblical tests …”

Humble Origins

Raised in Connecticut, the star started developing and showcasing humor while enrolled in theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” 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.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

Sennott decided to act independently, taking the stage at open mics with Ayo and posting hilarious (and decidedly) bizarre comedy videos on the internet. One, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women fetishistically obsessed with pregnancy; another portrayed working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being caught in a horror film. By chance, she connected with Emma through campus film circles and eventually appearing in her first film, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a funeral gathering with hints of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been contemporaries supporting her, instead of traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, adding amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Manifesting Dreams

Anyone who were skeptical regarding her then will likely be feeling foolish currently. As part of she calls a “astonishingly complete” development, she has manifested the perfect project. In 2019 she posted content called on LA life on the internet, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a show about Angelenos juggling benefits of online celebrity (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your client being labeled as being a substance-abusing thief, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). Some could easy to create a show about digital influence that was extremely glamorous—or, worse, one that belittled at its subjects. The series steers clear of each, making for a portrait of affluent twentysomething life 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 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