Rachel Sennott on the uproarious comedy depicting the messy glamour of Gen Z lifestyle

Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and immediately launches into an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, seeming really remorseful. Although she's only a couple of minutes delayed, she needs to explain. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, in this context, this is exactly what one hopes to encounter. Moreover, it’s fairly predictable. Anyone familiar with the boldly queer and unapologetically crass film titled Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with Emma Seligman and featured in alongside collaborator the talented actress—will be aware that she holds a lot to share, whether on identity, relationships, or the pros of creating a high-school fight club. And, once you finish the latest multi-episode program I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has additional perspectives regarding the struggles of young adulthood (At 30, Sennott serves as a bridge to younger audiences, on the cusp with a knack for bridging millennials and Gen Z).

Guiding Lights and Creative Vision

Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott admits to being an admirer, naming the show alongside Sex and the City, Insecure and the innovative program as influences for the project, which follows the struggles of a social media star Tallulah and her friend who is also fledgling agent Maia. However, the largest presence on concept belonged to Entourage, that HBO sitcom about a rising Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt Hollywood (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott started watching it during lockdown, became “obsessed”, and decided to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.

“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she says. The concept for I Love LA came—to some extent—from firsthand, originally difficult, move to Los Angeles and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed phenomenon for enthusiasts. It was an era that included her understand major life lessons, professionally and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”

Humble Origins

Brought up in Connecticut, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing humor while pursuing performance at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”

She decided to act independently, performing at amateur nights with Ayo and posting hilarious (and very) weird comedy videos on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted a group of women fetishistically fixated on motherhood; a different one imagined working at the brand Hollister as like being stuck in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and eventually appearing in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her journey, she says, has been people her own age giving her a shot, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she repeats, continuing with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”

Rising Success

Those who questioned regarding Sennott previously will surely be feeling foolish now. In what she calls a “incredibly circular” development, she has achieved an ideal role. A few years back she shared a video called “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a comedy about LA residents balancing the perks of digital stardom (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being labeled as being a drug-addled criminal, and perhaps becoming a unreliable outcast). It would be simple to create a program about internet celebrity that was overly aspirational—or, worse, one that punched down at its subjects. I Love LA steers clear of each, creating a depiction of privileged millennial life that’s honest about the grot and the appeal.

Nuanced Portrayal

“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