Rachel Sennott enters the digital interview and immediately begins an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, seeming genuinely remorseful. She is only slightly delayed, she needs to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, during an interview, this is precisely what you want to experience. Additionally, it’s quite predictable. Viewers familiar with the fearlessly openly gay and outspoken movie Bottoms—which she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and appeared in alongside her friend the talented actress—can be aware that she holds a lot to discuss, whether about roles, intimacy, or the merits of starting a youth brawl society. Furthermore, once you finish the new eight-part program I Love LA, viewers realize that she has even more insights about the challenges of modern youth (As a millennial, she is a bridge of the gang, straddling eras adept for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and Sennott readily acknowledges an admirer, referencing it together with Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as guides for I Love LA, which follows the journey of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion who is also new representative Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the largest influence on creative vision belonged to the HBO series, that HBO sitcom focusing on a rising celebrity navigating in a corrupt Hollywood (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it throughout COVID-19, became “obsessed”, 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 explains. The inspiration for I Love LA originated—in part—from personal, initially fractious, transition to LA and from her saturn return, a much-talked-about phenomenon for enthusiasts. This represented an era that included her learn significant truths, work-wise and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Raised in New England, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing humor while pursuing acting at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She seized control, performing at amateur nights with her friend and uploading hilarious (and distinctly) weird online content on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on characters obsessively drawn to motherhood; another envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being trapped in a horror film. Interestingly, she connected with Emma through campus film circles and ultimately appearing in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a funeral gathering with shades of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her journey, she says, has been people her own age offering opportunities, rather than the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she repeats, adding with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who were skeptical about Sennott previously will likely be feeling foolish currently. In what she calls a “incredibly circular” development, she has created her dream vehicle. Previously she posted content named on LA life online, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a series about LA residents balancing benefits of digital stardom (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your client being labeled as being a substance-abusing stealer, and possibly becoming a risky pariah). Some could simple to make a show about online fame that was extremely aspirational—or, more problematic, one that mocked at those depicted. This show avoids both, resulting in a representation of privileged millennial life that’s frank about the grot and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“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
