Rachel Sennott exploring the hilarious show portraying the chaotic allure of today's youth lifestyle

The performer enters the online meeting and immediately starts an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, seeming genuinely remorseful. Despite being only a couple of minutes delayed, she wants to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, for a writer, this is precisely what one hopes to encounter. Moreover, it’s fairly predictable. Anyone who have seen the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and outspoken project titled Bottoms—which she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and featured in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—can already know that she possesses plenty to say, ranging from on identity, sex, or the merits of starting a high-school fight club. Furthermore, once you finish her latest eight-part program I Love LA, viewers realize that she has even more thoughts regarding the struggles of modern youth (Now in her thirties, she represents a bridge to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial adept for straddling millennials and Gen Z).

Guiding Lights and Creative Vision

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and Sennott readily acknowledges a fan, citing it together with the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as influences for her series, which details the journey of online personality Tallulah and ally who is also aspiring talent manager portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the largest spot on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, that show about an emerging Hollywood star succeeding in an often-seedy LA scene (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott started watching it throughout COVID-19, became “hooked”, and chose to create a new version 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 the series originated—partly—from personal, originally difficult, transition to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a frequently discussed phenomenon for followers. That period marked an era that included her learn major life lessons, in her career and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”

Early Beginnings

Raised in Connecticut, Sennott commenced creating and acting comedy while pursuing acting at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

Sennott decided to act independently, performing at open mics with Ayo and uploading uproarious (and very) bizarre skits digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on several females fetishistically fixated on having babies; another imagined being employed at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being trapped in a thriller. Interestingly, she met Emma through campus film circles and eventually featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a Jewish wake with hints of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her career, she says, has been peers offering opportunities, instead of the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she repeats, stating with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”

Rising Success

Those who had doubts about her previously will likely be feeling foolish now. Through she labels a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she has achieved an ideal role. A few years back she uploaded a clip named “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a series about Angelenos juggling benefits of digital stardom (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your friend being accused of being a drug-addled thief, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). It would be simple to make a series about online fame that was overly idealized—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at the characters. This show does neither, resulting in a portrait of affluent twentysomething living that’s candid about the mess and the shine.

Balanced Perspective

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

Walter Alvarado
Walter Alvarado

A cultural journalist with a passion for uncovering emerging arts scenes and sharing stories that connect communities across the UK.