Rachel Sennott appears on the online meeting and at once begins an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, seeming genuinely regretful. Although she's only a couple of minutes late, she wants to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, in this context, that’s exactly what one hopes to hear. Besides, it’s quite predictable. Those who have seen her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass movie Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with Emma Seligman and starred in with close companion Ayo Edebiri—would be aware that she holds plenty to share, be it about gender, intimacy, or the merits of creating a youth combat group. And, by the end her new eight-part show titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds even more perspectives about the struggles of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she is an honorary member to younger audiences, on the cusp skilled for connecting different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, referencing it together with Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for the project, which tracks the journey of an influencer Tallulah and close companion and new representative Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the biggest presence on creative vision belonged to the HBO series, the program depicting an up-and-coming celebrity making his way in a gritty entertainment industry (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it throughout the pandemic, became “hooked”, 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 says. The inspiration for this project originated—to some extent—from firsthand, at first difficult, relocation to LA and from the cosmic event, a much-talked-about event for astrology heads. This represented an era that saw her understand some big life lessons, work-wise and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Brought up in New England, the star commenced writing and performing stand-up while pursuing acting at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. 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.”
She seized control, taking the stage at open mics with Edebiri and posting hysterical (and very) bizarre skits on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed several females intensely obsessed with having babies; a different one portrayed being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being trapped in a thriller. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through the university’s film scene and eventually starring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a Jewish wake with hints of the intense thriller. The central motif of her journey, she says, has been peers supporting her, instead of the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she confirms, adding with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Individuals who were skeptical regarding Sennott previously will surely be regretting it currently. As part of she calls a “incredibly circular” development, she seems to have created the perfect project. In 2019 she posted a video called on LA life on social media, in which she lampooned film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a series about Angelenos managing the perks of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a intoxicated thief, and perhaps becoming a unreliable persona non grata). Some could easy to make a show about online fame that was horribly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that belittled at the characters. This show steers clear of each, creating a portrait of affluent twentysomething living that’s candid about the grot and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“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
