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Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and at once begins an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, appearing truly remorseful. Despite being only a bit late, she wants to justify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, during an interview, that’s exactly what is ideal to hear. Besides, it’s quite predictable. Anyone who know the fearlessly queer and unapologetically crass project Bottoms—which she penned with Emma Seligman and featured in alongside collaborator The Bear’s standout—will understand that she holds a lot to say, be it on roles, intimacy, or the merits of creating a teen brawl society. And, once you finish the latest multi-episode HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star holds further thoughts on the darker side of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, she is an honorary member to younger audiences, on the cusp with a knack for bridging different age groups).

Influences and Storytelling Approach

Parallels to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress readily acknowledges a fan, naming it together with the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for I Love LA, which details the struggles of a social media star Tallulah and ally who is also new representative portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the biggest influence on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, the HBO sitcom depicting an up-and-coming A-list actor making his way in a gritty Hollywood (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it during lockdown, became “captivated”, and resolved to put her own twist 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 explains. The concept for this project originated—to some extent—from firsthand, originally rocky, transition to LA and from her saturn return, a frequently discussed occurrence for enthusiasts. This represented an era that included her grasp significant insights, in her career and individually. “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. It was almost like these biblical tests …”

Humble Origins

Growing up in New England, Sennott commenced creating and acting humor while studying performance at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” 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.”

She seized control, performing at amateur nights with Edebiri and sharing uproarious (and very) unconventional comedy videos online. One, titled Baby Cult, followed characters intensely obsessed with pregnancy; a different one envisioned being employed at the brand Hollister as like being caught in a thriller. By chance, she encountered Emma through NYU’s movie community and ultimately appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, as opposed to the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, continuing amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”

Career Breakthrough

Individuals who questioned about her previously will likely be kicking themselves now. In what she calls a “astonishingly complete” story, she has created her dream vehicle. A few years back she uploaded a video titled on LA life online, in which she mocked film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a comedy about Angelenos juggling benefits of online celebrity (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being suspected of being a intoxicated criminal, and potentially becoming a unreliable persona non grata). It would be simple to make a series about online fame that was horribly idealized—or, worse, one that mocked at the characters. The series does neither, creating a portrait of advantaged millennial life that’s frank about the grot and the shine.

Empathetic Approach

“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