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Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and right away begins an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, seeming really remorseful. Although she's only a bit behind, she wants to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, in this context, this is precisely what you want to experience. Additionally, it’s quite unsurprising. Those who have seen her fearlessly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—which she collaborated on with the director and appeared in with her friend The Bear’s standout—can be aware that Sennott has much to say, ranging from about identity, relationships, or the appeal of forming a high-school fight club. Furthermore, by the end her new seasonal HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she carries additional thoughts about the challenges of young adulthood (As a millennial, she is a bridge for this generation, a tale-end millennial skilled for connecting millennials and Gen Z).

Influences and Artistic Direction

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and Sennott readily acknowledges a fan, referencing the show alongside the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as guides for the project, which details the journey of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion who is also fledgling talent manager Sennott’s character. However, the most significant spot on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, that program about a rising Hollywood star navigating in a gritty Hollywood (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She began viewing it amid the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and decided to put her own twist 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 explains. The idea for the series originated—to some extent—from personal, originally fractious, relocation to Tinseltown and from her saturn return, a frequently discussed occurrence for enthusiasts. It was a time that included her understand major life lessons, work-wise and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”

Humble Origins

Raised in the East Coast, Sennott started developing and showcasing humor while enrolled in performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”

Sennott took matters into her own hands, appearing at live shows with Ayo and uploading hilarious (and decidedly) unconventional comedy videos on the internet. One, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women fetishistically obsessed with having babies; a different one envisioned being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being stuck in a thriller. By chance, she met Emma through campus film circles and ultimately starring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a Jewish wake with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her career, she notes, has been people her own age supporting her, instead of traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, continuing amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Manifesting Dreams

Those who questioned about her then will likely be feeling foolish today. Through she describes as a “astonishingly complete” story, she seems to have manifested the perfect project. A few years back she posted a clip titled on LA life online, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a show about LA residents balancing benefits of digital stardom (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a intoxicated thief, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). It would be easy to create a show about internet celebrity that was extremely aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at those depicted. This show does neither, making for a portrait of advantaged young adult living that’s frank about the grot and the glamour.

Nuanced Portrayal

“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