Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and at once begins an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, appearing really remorseful. Although she's only a bit delayed, she needs to clarify. “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, in this context, that’s precisely what one hopes to encounter. Additionally, it’s pretty predictable. Those who have seen the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and brash film titled Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with the director and starred in together with her friend Ayo Edebiri—will understand that Sennott possesses plenty to discuss, ranging from on gender, intimacy, or the merits of forming a youth brawl society. Furthermore, once you finish the latest eight-part HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that she holds even more perspectives on the challenges of Gen Z life (At 30, she serves as an honorary member of the gang, on the cusp skilled for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being enthusiastic, naming it alongside the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as guides for the project, which details the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and aspiring agent portrayed by Sennott. However, the most significant spot on creative vision went to Entourage, the program focusing on an emerging Hollywood star navigating in a gritty LA scene (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott started watching it during the pandemic, became “captivated”, and decided 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 inspiration for I Love LA originated—partly—from her own, originally rocky, relocation to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a much-talked-about occurrence for enthusiasts. It was a phase that included her learn some big truths, in her career and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in Connecticut, the star started writing and performing stand-up while pursuing theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “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. 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 decided to act independently, taking the stage at open mics with Ayo and uploading uproarious (and decidedly) unconventional comedy videos online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed several females fetishistically fixated on motherhood; another envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being stuck in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she met Emma through campus film circles and eventually starring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a Jewish wake with hints of the intense thriller. The big theme of her journey, she explains, has been peers giving her a shot, rather than established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, adding humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who were skeptical regarding her previously will likely be kicking themselves now. Through she describes as a “astonishingly complete” story, she appears to manifested the perfect project. A few years back she uploaded content titled about Los Angeles on social media, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a comedy about Angelenos managing advantages of digital stardom (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being accused of being a intoxicated stealer, and potentially becoming a risky persona non grata). One might simple to produce a series about digital influence that was horribly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA does neither, resulting in a representation of privileged twentysomething existence that’s candid about the chaos and the glamour.
Balanced Perspective
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
