Rachel Sennott appears on the online meeting and right away starts an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, appearing really regretful. Despite being only a bit delayed, she feels compelled to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Fortunately, during an interview, this is precisely what is ideal to hear. Besides, it’s quite predictable. Anyone who have seen her boldly LGBTQ+ and outspoken film Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with Emma Seligman and starred in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—will already know that she holds much to say, be it about gender, relationships, or the appeal of creating a high-school brawl society. And, once you finish the new eight-part HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries even more perspectives about the darker side of Gen Z life (At 30, she is a bridge of the gang, on the cusp with a knack for bridging different age groups).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and Sennott admits to being a fan, referencing the show together with the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for her series, which tracks the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and fledgling talent manager Sennott’s character. Notably, the largest presence on the moodboard belonged to the popular sitcom, the HBO sitcom depicting an emerging Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt entertainment industry (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it throughout lockdown, became “captivated”, and resolved to create a new version on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she explains. The idea for I Love LA came—to some extent—from personal, originally fractious, move to LA and from the saturn return, a frequently discussed occurrence for followers. That period marked a time that involved her learn significant life lessons, work-wise and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Starting Out
Raised in New England, Sennott started creating and acting humor while pursuing performance at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” 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 seized control, appearing at amateur nights with Ayo and sharing hysterical (and distinctly) bizarre comedy videos online. One, Baby Cult, depicted several females obsessively obsessed with having babies; another imagined being employed at a trendy retail outlet as like being caught in a scary movie. By chance, she encountered Seligman through campus film circles and ended up starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a religious event with hints of the intense thriller. The big theme of her path, she says, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, instead of established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, continuing with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who questioned about Sennott previously will surely be kicking themselves now. As part of she calls a “astonishingly complete” development, she appears to achieved the perfect project. A few years back she posted content titled about Los Angeles online, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about Angelenos balancing benefits of online celebrity (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your client being labeled as being a intoxicated criminal, and perhaps becoming a unreliable outcast). Some could easy to produce a series about internet celebrity that was overly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at its subjects. This show does neither, creating a portrait of privileged young adult living that’s honest about the mess 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
