The actress and writer on the uproarious series portraying the grotty allure of Gen Z existence

Rachel Sennott joins the video call and immediately launches into an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, sounding genuinely remorseful. Although she's only slightly late, she wants to justify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, for a writer, that’s exactly what you want to encounter. Additionally, it’s quite predictable. Viewers who have seen the fearlessly openly gay and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—which she penned with the director and appeared in together with collaborator the talented actress—will understand that she holds a lot to discuss, ranging from on gender, intimacy, or the merits of creating a high-school fight club. And, once you finish her recent multi-episode HBO series I Love LA, it is clear that she has even more thoughts regarding the darker side of modern youth (Now in her thirties, she represents an honorary member of the gang, a tale-end millennial skilled for straddling both generations).

Influences and Storytelling Approach

The comparisons to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, citing the show in addition to Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as guides for the project, which follows the travails of online personality Tallulah and her friend who is also aspiring representative portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the biggest presence on the moodboard went to the HBO series, the show depicting an emerging celebrity succeeding in an often-seedy LA scene (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it amid COVID-19, became “captivated”, and chose to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.

“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she says. The idea for this project emerged—in part—from her own, at first rocky, move to LA and from her astrological phase, a popular occurrence for astrology heads. It was a phase that saw her grasp significant truths, professionally and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Starting Out

Raised in the East Coast, the star started creating and acting stand-up while enrolled in theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” 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. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

She seized control, performing at live shows with her friend and sharing uproarious (and distinctly) weird comedy videos digitally. One, Baby Cult, centered on several females intensely obsessed with having babies; another envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as like being trapped in a scary movie. Interestingly, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately appearing in her first film, Shiva Baby, a stressful film 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 traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, continuing amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”

Manifesting Dreams

Those who had doubts regarding her earlier will likely be kicking themselves today. In what she calls a “astonishingly complete” development, she seems to have achieved the perfect project. Previously she posted a clip named on LA life on the internet, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a comedy about Angelenos juggling the perks of digital stardom (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being labeled as being a drug-addled thief, and perhaps becoming a unreliable pariah). Some could easy to create a show about digital influence that was horribly aspirational—or, worse, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA does neither, creating a depiction of advantaged young adult living that’s frank about the grot and the appeal.

Balanced Perspective

“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