Rachel Sennott joins the digital interview and at once launches into an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, sounding genuinely remorseful. She is only a bit delayed, she wants to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s just what one hopes to hear. Moreover, it’s quite predictable. Those who have seen the fearlessly queer and outspoken film Bottoms—that she co-wrote with her creative partner and starred in with her friend the talented actress—will be aware that she possesses a lot to share, whether about gender, relationships, or the pros of forming a high-school fight club. Furthermore, by the end the latest seasonal HBO series I Love LA, viewers realize that she has additional insights regarding the darker side of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as a bridge for this generation, on the cusp adept for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Creative Vision
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress readily acknowledges enthusiastic, citing the show together with the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as influences for her series, which follows the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and aspiring talent manager portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the largest spot on the moodboard went to the popular sitcom, the HBO sitcom about a rising Hollywood star succeeding in a gritty LA scene (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it throughout COVID-19, became “hooked”, and resolved 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—partly—from personal, initially fractious, move to Los Angeles and from the astrological phase, a much-talked-about event for enthusiasts. That period marked a time that saw her grasp significant insights, in her career and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Starting Out
Brought up in Connecticut, the star began writing and performing humor while enrolled in theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she states. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She seized control, performing at live shows with Edebiri and posting hysterical (and very) bizarre online content on the internet. One, Baby Cult, centered on characters obsessively obsessed with motherhood; another imagined working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being trapped in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Seligman through the university’s film scene and ultimately appearing in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a Jewish wake with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her career, she explains, has been contemporaries supporting her, rather than established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she repeats, continuing humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who were skeptical about Sennott previously will likely be kicking themselves now. As part of she calls a “astonishingly complete” story, she appears to achieved her dream vehicle. Previously she shared a clip called on LA life on social media, in which she mocked film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about Angelenos juggling advantages of digital stardom (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being accused of being a drug-addled criminal, and perhaps becoming a risky outcast). One might tempting to produce a program about online fame that was overly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that mocked at those depicted. I Love LA does neither, creating a representation of privileged millennial existence that’s candid about the mess and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
