Rachel Sennott enters the video call and at once starts an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, seeming really regretful. Although she's only a couple of minutes delayed, she wants to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s precisely what one hopes to experience. Moreover, it’s pretty unsurprising. Anyone who have seen the boldly queer and brash film titled Bottoms—that Sennott penned with her creative partner and featured in together with collaborator the talented actress—would be aware that Sennott has plenty to say, whether on gender, intimacy, or the merits of starting a teen fight club. Furthermore, once you finish her new eight-part show I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star carries additional insights about the struggles of Gen Z life (At 30, Sennott is a bridge to younger audiences, 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 the actress readily acknowledges a fan, referencing the show alongside the HBO hit, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for the project, which follows the struggles of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion who is also aspiring talent manager Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the largest spot on creative vision belonged to the popular sitcom, the show focusing on a rising A-list actor succeeding in a corrupt entertainment industry (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it during the pandemic, became “hooked”, 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 explains. The idea for I Love LA emerged—to some extent—from her own, initially difficult, relocation to Los Angeles and from the cosmic event, a popular occurrence for astrology heads. It was a time that involved her learn significant life lessons, in her career and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “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 …”
Humble Origins
Raised in Connecticut, the star started creating and acting comedy while studying theatre at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “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?”
She took matters into her own hands, appearing at amateur nights with her friend and posting hysterical (and very) bizarre skits on the internet. One, Baby Cult, followed characters obsessively drawn to pregnancy; another imagined working at the brand Hollister as like being stuck in a horror film. Interestingly, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and ended up featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a religious event with echoes of the intense thriller. The big theme of her career, she explains, has been peers offering opportunities, rather than established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, continuing amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who questioned about her previously will certainly be feeling foolish now. Through she labels a “incredibly circular” story, she has achieved her dream vehicle. Previously she shared a video titled about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she parodied film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a series about Angelenos managing benefits of internet fame (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being labeled as being a intoxicated stealer, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). Some could easy to make a program about digital influence that was extremely glamorous—or, worse, one that mocked at the characters. This show avoids both, creating a representation of advantaged millennial life that’s honest about the grot and the glamour.
Balanced Perspective
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
