Rachel Sennott on the uproarious show portraying that grotty allure of Gen Z lifestyle

The star joins the digital interview and immediately launches into an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, seeming truly remorseful. She is only slightly delayed, she wants to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s just what one hopes to experience. Moreover, it’s fairly unsurprising. Those who have seen the unapologetically openly gay and outspoken movie titled Bottoms—which she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and starred in with collaborator the talented actress—will understand that Sennott has plenty to share, be it about gender, sex, or the appeal of starting a teen fight club. Plus, after watching the new eight-part show I Love LA, viewers realize that the star holds additional thoughts on the struggles of Gen Z life (At 30, Sennott represents an honorary member for this generation, on the cusp with a knack for bridging different age groups).

Influences and Storytelling Approach

The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and the actress readily acknowledges a fan, naming it together with Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as guides for I Love LA, which tracks the travails of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and fledgling talent manager Maia. However, the largest spot on concept belonged to the HBO series, the program focusing on an up-and-coming celebrity navigating in an often-seedy LA scene (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott began viewing it throughout COVID-19, became “hooked”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.

“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she notes. The idea for this project emerged—partly—from personal, originally difficult, transition to LA and from the astrological phase, a much-talked-about event for followers. This represented an era that included her learn some big insights, work-wise and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Humble Origins

Brought up in the East Coast, the star began writing and performing comedy while pursuing acting at NYU’s Tisch. “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. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

Sennott seized control, taking the stage at amateur nights with Ayo and posting hysterical (and decidedly) unconventional online content digitally. One, Baby Cult, followed characters intensely obsessed with motherhood; a different one imagined working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being stuck in a scary movie. By chance, she encountered Emma through the university’s film scene and eventually appearing in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a funeral gathering with echoes of the intense thriller. The central motif of her path, she explains, has been people her own age offering opportunities, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, adding with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Career Breakthrough

Anyone who were skeptical about Sennott earlier will likely be regretting it now. Through she calls a “wild, full-circle” development, she has manifested her dream vehicle. In 2019 she uploaded a clip titled on LA life online, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a comedy about LA residents balancing benefits of internet fame (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your client being accused of being a drug-addled thief, and potentially becoming a risky persona non grata). One might tempting to produce a series about internet celebrity that was horribly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that punched down at its subjects. I Love LA avoids both, resulting in a depiction of privileged young adult life that’s frank about the mess and the appeal.

Empathetic Approach

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