Rachel Sennott enters the digital interview and right away launches into an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, appearing truly regretful. She is only a bit late, she needs to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, during an interview, this is exactly what is ideal to experience. Besides, it’s pretty unsurprising. Anyone familiar with the boldly openly gay and brash project titled Bottoms—that she collaborated on with her creative partner and appeared in alongside close companion the talented actress—will already know that she holds much to share, be it on roles, intimacy, or the appeal of forming a teen brawl society. And, after watching her latest seasonal HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that she holds further perspectives on the struggles of Gen Z life (As a millennial, Sennott serves as an honorary member of the gang, on the cusp with a knack for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges a fan, citing the show together with Sex and the City, Insecure and Atlanta as influences for the project, which follows the struggles of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and fledgling representative Sennott’s character. Notably, the largest influence on concept belonged to Entourage, that show about a rising Hollywood star succeeding in a corrupt entertainment industry (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She discovered it throughout the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and resolved to create a new version 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 says. The concept for I Love LA originated—partly—from her own, initially fractious, transition to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a much-talked-about occurrence for astrology heads. It was an era that involved her understand some big truths, in her career and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “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
Growing up in Connecticut, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing humor while enrolled in theatre at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. 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.”
Sennott seized control, taking the stage at amateur nights with her friend and uploading uproarious (and distinctly) weird skits online. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on characters obsessively fixated on having babies; a different one imagined working at the brand Hollister as similar to being caught in a thriller. By chance, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up starring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a Jewish wake with hints of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her path, she says, has been peers offering opportunities, instead of the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, continuing amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who had doubts regarding Sennott earlier will likely be feeling foolish now. In what she describes as a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she seems to have achieved the perfect project. Previously she uploaded a clip named on LA life on social media, in which she parodied movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about LA residents juggling advantages of digital stardom (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being accused of being a intoxicated stealer, and perhaps becoming a risky pariah). It would be simple to make a program about internet celebrity that was extremely glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at the characters. The series does neither, making for a portrait of advantaged millennial living that’s candid about the grot and the glamour.
Empathetic Approach
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” she says. “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
