Rachel Sennott enters the video call and immediately launches into an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, appearing really remorseful. Although she's only a couple of minutes late, 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!” Luckily, in this context, this is exactly what you want to experience. Additionally, it’s pretty expected. Anyone who have seen the boldly openly gay and unapologetically crass film titled Bottoms—which she penned with her creative partner and starred in alongside her friend the talented actress—would be aware that she possesses much to share, be it about identity, intimacy, or the merits of starting a high-school combat group. Plus, once you finish the new seasonal program titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she carries further thoughts regarding the challenges of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as a relatable figure for this generation, straddling eras adept for straddling different age groups).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and the actress readily acknowledges an admirer, citing the show in addition to the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as guides for her series, which follows the struggles of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and new agent portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the most significant spot on the moodboard belonged to the HBO series, that HBO sitcom focusing on an emerging Hollywood star navigating in an often-seedy LA scene (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She began viewing it throughout lockdown, became “captivated”, and resolved to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she notes. The concept for I Love LA originated—to some extent—from her own, at first difficult, move to Tinseltown and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed event for astrology heads. This represented a time that saw her grasp some big insights, work-wise and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Growing up in the East Coast, the star commenced writing and performing comedy while studying theatre at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she states. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott seized control, appearing at live shows with Ayo and posting uproarious (and distinctly) weird online content online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on a group of women intensely drawn to motherhood; a different one imagined working at a trendy retail outlet as like being caught in a scary movie. By chance, she encountered Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ended up appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a funeral gathering with echoes of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her career, she notes, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, rather than traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, continuing humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who were skeptical regarding Sennott previously will likely be kicking themselves currently. In what she calls a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she has created her dream vehicle. A few years back she uploaded a video called “it’s LA” on social media, in which she mocked movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a comedy about city dwellers managing advantages of digital stardom (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being suspected of being a substance-abusing stealer, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). Some could easy to make a program about digital influence that was overly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at its subjects. I Love LA steers clear of each, resulting in a representation of privileged twentysomething existence that’s frank about the mess and the glamour.
Empathetic Approach
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” she observes. “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
