Rachel Sennott appears on the online meeting and immediately begins an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, seeming truly regretful. She is only slightly behind, she wants to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, in this context, that’s just what you want to experience. Additionally, it’s pretty predictable. Those who know the fearlessly queer and outspoken project Bottoms—which she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and featured in together with close companion The Bear’s standout—can be aware that Sennott possesses plenty to discuss, be it about gender, sex, or the merits of starting a teen combat group. And, once you finish her latest eight-part HBO series titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she has further perspectives about the darker side of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott serves as a bridge to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial adept for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and the actress admits to being a fan, referencing the show alongside the HBO hit, Insecure and Atlanta as influences for I Love LA, which tracks the travails of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and fledgling agent Sennott’s character. However, the biggest presence on the moodboard belonged to the popular sitcom, that program about an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in an often-seedy entertainment industry (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She started watching it during the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and chose to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she explains. The idea for this project emerged—to some extent—from her own, at first rocky, transition to Tinseltown and from her saturn return, a much-talked-about occurrence for followers. This represented an era that involved her understand major truths, professionally and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” 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 began writing and performing comedy while pursuing theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she states. “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?”
Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at amateur nights with Edebiri and posting hysterical (and decidedly) weird comedy videos on the internet. One, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women obsessively obsessed with having babies; another envisioned working at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being stuck in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately featuring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a Jewish wake with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her path, she explains, has been people her own age supporting her, rather than traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, continuing with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who were skeptical about her previously will surely be kicking themselves now. Through she calls a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she has manifested the perfect project. Previously she posted content titled on LA life on social media, in which she lampooned movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a series about city dwellers balancing benefits of digital stardom (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being labeled as being a substance-abusing stealer, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). Some could tempting to produce a series about online fame that was extremely aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at those depicted. I Love LA avoids both, creating a portrait of advantaged twentysomething living that’s frank about the chaos 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
