Rachel Sennott joins the video call and right away launches into an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, appearing genuinely apologetic. Despite being only slightly delayed, she needs to explain. “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, this is precisely what you want to encounter. Besides, it’s fairly predictable. Viewers who know the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and brash project Bottoms—that she penned with her creative partner and appeared in with her friend Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that Sennott holds a lot to discuss, ranging from on roles, sex, or the pros of forming a high-school brawl society. Furthermore, once you finish the latest multi-episode program I Love LA, viewers realize that she has further thoughts regarding the challenges of Gen Z life (As a millennial, Sennott is a bridge for this generation, a tale-end millennial with a knack for straddling both generations).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott is enthusiastic, citing it together with the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as guides for I Love LA, which tracks the journey of an influencer Tallulah and her friend who is also new representative Maia. Perhaps, the largest influence on the moodboard was reserved for the popular sitcom, the show about an emerging Hollywood star succeeding in an often-seedy Hollywood (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it throughout the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and decided to create a new version on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The concept for the series came—partly—from firsthand, originally fractious, move to Los Angeles and from the cosmic event, a frequently discussed event for astrology heads. This represented an era that saw her understand significant insights, professionally and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott began creating and acting stand-up while enrolled in performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at amateur nights with Edebiri and posting hilarious (and very) weird online content online. One, Baby Cult, depicted several females fetishistically fixated on motherhood; a different one imagined working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being caught in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she met Emma through NYU’s movie community and ultimately appearing in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a religious event with echoes of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her career, she says, has been peers supporting her, rather than the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, continuing humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Anyone who questioned regarding Sennott previously will likely be regretting it today. As part of she calls a “wild, full-circle” development, she seems to have manifested the perfect project. In 2019 she posted content titled “it’s LA” online, in which she parodied film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a show about Angelenos balancing the perks of online celebrity (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your associate being accused of being a drug-addled stealer, and possibly becoming a risky persona non grata). One might tempting to make a show about online fame that was overly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at the characters. This show does neither, resulting in a depiction of affluent young adult life that’s frank about the mess and the appeal.
Balanced Perspective
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
