🔗 Share this article Rachel Sennott on the hilarious show portraying the grotty appeal of Gen Z lifestyle The performer enters the online meeting and immediately begins an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, sounding really apologetic. She is only a couple of minutes delayed, she feels compelled to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, in this context, this is precisely what one hopes to hear. Moreover, it’s fairly predictable. Viewers familiar with her fearlessly openly gay and outspoken project titled Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and appeared in together with collaborator the talented actress—will already know that Sennott has much to discuss, be it on roles, intimacy, or the merits of creating a youth brawl society. Plus, after watching the latest multi-episode show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she holds even more insights regarding the darker side of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott is an honorary member for this generation, a tale-end millennial with a knack for connecting millennials and Gen Z). Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and the actress is enthusiastic, referencing it alongside the HBO hit, Insecure and the innovative program as influences for her series, which tracks the travails of online personality Tallulah and her friend and new agent Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the biggest spot on creative vision was reserved for Entourage, that show depicting a rising Hollywood star succeeding in a gritty Hollywood (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott discovered it during lockdown, became “obsessed”, 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 notes. The idea for I Love LA came—in part—from her own, initially rocky, transition to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a much-talked-about event for followers. It was a phase that included her grasp significant insights, professionally and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “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 Raised in the East Coast, the star started developing and showcasing comedy while studying performance at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “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 decided to act independently, performing at open mics with Edebiri and uploading uproarious (and decidedly) weird skits digitally. One, Baby Cult, depicted a group of women intensely obsessed with having babies; another envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being caught in a horror film. By chance, she met Emma through NYU’s movie community and eventually appearing in her first film, Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her path, she notes, has been people her own age offering opportunities, as opposed to traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, continuing amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.” Career Breakthrough Individuals who were skeptical regarding Sennott then will certainly be feeling foolish today. Through she labels a “wild, full-circle” story, she seems to have manifested an ideal role. A few years back she posted a clip titled on LA life online, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a comedy about Angelenos balancing the perks of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your friend being labeled as being a drug-addled thief, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). One might easy to produce a show about online fame that was extremely aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at those depicted. This show does neither, making for a portrait of privileged young adult life that’s frank about the mess and the glamour. Nuanced Portrayal “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