Rachel Sennott exploring the side-splitting comedy portraying that grotty glamour of younger generation existence

The performer joins the video call and immediately launches into an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, sounding truly regretful. She is only a bit behind, she needs to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, during an interview, this is precisely what is ideal to hear. Additionally, it’s pretty unsurprising. Anyone familiar with her unapologetically queer and brash film titled Bottoms—which Sennott penned with Emma Seligman and featured in together with close companion Ayo Edebiri—would understand that she holds plenty to discuss, ranging from about roles, intimacy, or the appeal of starting a youth brawl society. And, after watching the recent eight-part show I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries further thoughts about the darker side of Gen Z life (At 30, she represents an honorary member of the gang, on the cusp with a knack for straddling both generations).

Guiding Lights and Creative Vision

The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and the actress readily acknowledges a fan, citing the show in addition to Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as influences for I Love LA, which follows the travails of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also new representative portrayed by Sennott. However, the largest influence on creative vision was reserved for Entourage, that HBO sitcom about an emerging celebrity succeeding in an often-seedy Hollywood (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott started watching it throughout the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.

“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The idea for I Love LA came—in part—from personal, originally fractious, relocation to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a frequently discussed phenomenon for astrology heads. That period marked an era that involved her understand some big truths, professionally and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”

Early Beginnings

Raised in Connecticut, Sennott commenced writing and performing stand-up while enrolled in acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she states. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

She decided to act independently, performing at live shows with Ayo and sharing hysterical (and distinctly) weird online content on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on several females obsessively fixated on having babies; another portrayed working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being stuck in a horror film. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ended up featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her journey, she says, has been peers giving her a shot, instead of established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, adding with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”

Career Breakthrough

Those who questioned about Sennott previously will certainly be regretting it today. Through she calls a “wild, full-circle” story, she has created her dream vehicle. A few years back she posted a clip titled “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a series about city dwellers managing the perks of online celebrity (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being accused of being a intoxicated criminal, and potentially becoming a risky persona non grata). Some could tempting to produce a show about internet celebrity that was overly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at its subjects. The series steers clear of each, creating a depiction of privileged twentysomething living that’s honest about the mess and the glamour.

Empathetic Approach

“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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