How Quenlin Blackwell Went From Being Twitter Friends With Rachel Sennott to Spoofing Herself in ‘I Love LA’

“Rachel really did it,” says Quenlin Blackwell. The digital creator — who boasts 12.5 million followers on TikTok and counting, plus a spot on THR‘s Creator A-list — is calling this magazine while driving over the hill in Los Angeles, on the way to audition. She’s talking about her new role on I Love LA; the Rachel she’s referring to is show creator Rachel Sennott. And “it” is the dream of so many influencers these days — translating Internet fame to real Hollywood success. “She’s an original Twitter girl, and that girl has now become so great that she’s writing an HBO show,” she continues. “Anything can happen.”

Blackwell met Sennott on the social circuit in L.A., the two became friends and then Sennott invited her to audition for her then-still-unnamed HBO series. The result was a guest role not unlike what we see on The Studio: Blackwell is playing a dramatized (read: crazier) version of herself, dropped into the series to help Tallulah (Odessa A’Zion) and Maia (Sennott) understand how much they still don’t know about the business of being famous online. Here, Blackwell gives the origin story to her role and the real talk about what it takes to succeed on TikTok and beyond.

So, you and Rachel were Internet friends first?

We considered ourselves mutuals, we followed each other, but mutuals isn’t friends. Being friends takes an in-real-life meeting, and then when we met it was like, oh OK, I liked your work online and now I like your soul.

How often does someone’s soul, as you put it, align with what you see or like about them online?

I think pretty often. The people that are great at the Internet are great because it’s them. It’s the same with actors; if you were in an actor’s living room when they’re not filming, and you’re hanging out with their family, they’re going to be even better than they were onscreen.

What did you know about the show, and the role, when you got the audition?

At first, I just knew a bit about what the show was and who the character was that I was auditioning for. And then Rachel did the Rachel thing and just pulled the rug in the most legendary way and was like, I’m going to rewrite everything. So she rewrote the entire show. And as part of that she was like, I think you’re so sick that I just want to ingrain this character of Quen Blackwell into the show and I’m going to write you an episode.

Oh, so you didn’t audition to play this version of yourself that we see in the episode?

No, it was to play a different character — a love interest. And then in the show’s rewrites it got so much more L.A., and so much Rachel, and since I’m a creator she figured she would just make a crazy version of me. She saw a video that I did, where I recreated a scene from Waiting to Exhale with Angela Bassett for Halloween, and I was giving this crazy performance in it because Halloween is literally my personal Olympics. So she showed that video to the writing team and they gave me this Whiplash type character.

What was your first reaction when you read the episode?

I was like, who hacked into my phone? And how do you know my neuroses so well?

What we see in the episode is of course a heightened version of what being a successful creator is like, but which parts are pulled from your actual process?

My process is really heady. I’m a Capricorn down to the socks, and so everything I do is strategic — including how I approach the Internet. I see all these people who are doing well online signing to companies, and I do have that conversation that I wish someone had with me when I was younger: You don’t have to give everyone your money. For people to be part of the business of you, they should offer a level of incredible work and effort into your career. So when my character is talking to Tallulah, telling her not to minimize herself, that is me. But also, I don’t have a clip farm and my videos are mostly me chilling on my couch and taking out my phone.

Do you think there are people out there who do have clip farms?

Oh my God, yes. There’s a whole thing, called clipping. I need clippers, but I do so much every day that I don’t have time.

How does your experience of early Internet fame stack up to what we see Tallulah experiencing?

She’s post the Internet being a stable job. When I started, being a content creator wasn’t a thing yet. I was eight, it was 2007, and I was speaking to my camera on my phone because my sisters are a decade older than me and I wasn’t cool enough to talk to them yet. Then YouTube became a thing and I started uploading things. My mom didn’t know what was going on, because no one knew what was going on on the Internet. And then Vine came out, and I gained an entire audience there. There weren’t agencies; there were no managers; there were no contractual guidelines. So Tallulah is coming into this space after it’s been built, versus me, I kind of helped build it.

Do you think that having an online presence as large as yours helps you book jobs?

I think it depends. If a project wants a cast that can help do all of the marketing, so they can put the marketing budget into something else, then they’re going to want to book someone with an audience. This project, they were looking for more than just virality. You know that because I’m not marketing it all by myself. It was more like, we see your talent online, and we want to see it on the screen.

What was the vibe on set?

It was like a family. It was so nice to see that they wanted to bring me in and welcome me into the industry. Sometimes on the internet, it feels like people won’t help you because they feel like you could take some of what they have. It feels like there’s more room for everyone when you’re on set.

Was the wardrobe for this episode also a heightened version of you?

I met with the costume designer and we had probably eight different outfits, and the idea was: What’s the most obnoxious thing for me to wear as a very dramatized version of myself? Right now I’m wearing leggings, a crop top, a leather jacket and some ballet flats, but in this episode I’m wearing floss and Band-Aids. I was playing a beautiful, interesting girl who is proud of her body, so I had to give that to that character.

Is it normal for an Internet star to be able to host a party at Elijah Wood’s house?

Yes. I think rich people get big houses so they can throw parties. Because what else are you doing in that big house? They need a young person who’s socially connected to help make use of the house. This house where we filmed was in Pasadena, and I’ve looked at it on Zillow probably 400 times. It just got to the market. I think it’s like nine or 11 million. It has this incredible view and was made by an incredible architect. I hate all of these modern black and white soulless boxes that these people are doing with their renovations, and this was preserved so well. It felt like something that could be in The Studio.