Rachel Sennott enters the digital interview and at once begins an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, appearing really remorseful. Although she's only a couple of minutes late, she needs to explain. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, for a writer, this is exactly what you want to experience. Moreover, it’s quite unsurprising. Viewers familiar with her boldly queer and outspoken movie Bottoms—which she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and featured in alongside close companion The Bear’s standout—can understand that Sennott has much to discuss, ranging from on roles, relationships, or the appeal of starting a high-school fight club. And, by the end her recent seasonal show titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she holds further perspectives regarding the darker side of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott represents a relatable figure of the gang, a tale-end millennial skilled for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and the actress readily acknowledges a fan, referencing it together with the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as influences for the project, which details the journey of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion who is also new agent Maia. Perhaps, the biggest influence on the moodboard went to Entourage, that program focusing on an up-and-coming Hollywood star succeeding in an often-seedy Hollywood (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She discovered it amid lockdown, became “captivated”, and decided to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she notes. The idea for the series emerged—to some extent—from personal, at first fractious, transition to Tinseltown and from the cosmic event, a popular event for astrology heads. That period marked a time that included her grasp significant truths, professionally and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott started writing and performing stand-up while enrolled in theatre at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott decided to act independently, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and sharing uproarious (and distinctly) bizarre skits digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters obsessively obsessed with motherhood; a different one imagined being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being stuck in a thriller. By chance, she encountered Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately appearing in her first film, Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a Jewish wake with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her path, she notes, has been peers supporting her, rather than established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, continuing amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Individuals who had doubts regarding her then will surely be regretting it today. In what she labels a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she has created an ideal role. In 2019 she shared a video titled “it’s LA” on social media, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a series about city dwellers balancing advantages of online celebrity (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being labeled as being a substance-abusing thief, and possibly becoming a unreliable persona non grata). It would be simple to create a program about digital influence that was overly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that belittled at the characters. This show steers clear of each, making for a representation of privileged twentysomething living that’s frank about the chaos and the glamour.
Empathetic Approach
“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
