🔗 Share this article Rachel Sennott exploring the side-splitting series depicting the messy appeal of today's youth life The performer enters the video call and immediately starts an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, sounding truly regretful. She is 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, in this context, this is precisely what you want to encounter. Besides, it’s fairly unsurprising. Viewers familiar with the unapologetically queer and unapologetically crass project Bottoms—which she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and appeared in together with close companion Ayo Edebiri—will understand that she possesses a lot to share, ranging from on identity, intimacy, or the appeal of forming a teen combat group. And, by the end the recent multi-episode program titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds further thoughts about the struggles of modern youth (Now in her thirties, she is a bridge to younger audiences, on the cusp with a knack for straddling millennials and Gen Z). Guiding Lights and Creative Vision The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being a fan, referencing the show alongside Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as guides for her series, which tracks the travails of an influencer Tallulah and close companion and aspiring talent manager Sennott’s character. Notably, the largest influence on the moodboard went to Entourage, that HBO sitcom focusing on an emerging A-list actor navigating in a gritty LA scene (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it throughout lockdown, became “hooked”, and decided to add a fresh perspective 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 notes. The idea for I Love LA emerged—to some extent—from her own, originally fractious, move to Los Angeles and from the astrological phase, a much-talked-about phenomenon for enthusiasts. This represented an era that saw her understand major truths, work-wise and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …” Early Beginnings Brought up in New England, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing humor while pursuing 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.” She decided to act independently, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and posting hilarious (and very) weird online content on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted several females intensely drawn to pregnancy; a different one envisioned being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being stuck in a thriller. By chance, she connected with Seligman through campus film circles and eventually starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a funeral gathering with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her journey, she says, has been peers offering opportunities, as opposed to the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, continuing with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.” Rising Success Individuals who were skeptical regarding Sennott previously will likely be regretting it now. As part of she calls a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she appears to created an ideal role. In 2019 she posted a video called about Los Angeles on social media, in which she mocked movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a series about LA residents juggling benefits of digital stardom (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being labeled as being a drug-addled criminal, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). It would be easy to make a show about online fame that was extremely glamorous—or, more problematic, one that punched down at the characters. This show does neither, creating a portrait of advantaged twentysomething existence that’s frank about the grot and the glamour. Nuanced Portrayal “Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” she comments. “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