Rachel Sennott enters the digital interview and immediately launches into an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, seeming genuinely remorseful. She is only slightly behind, she wants to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s exactly what one hopes to encounter. Besides, it’s pretty predictable. Anyone familiar with the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—which she co-wrote with the director and featured in alongside close companion Ayo Edebiri—will already know that she has plenty to discuss, ranging from about identity, intimacy, or the appeal of creating a teen combat group. And, once you finish her new eight-part program I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star has additional perspectives regarding the darker side of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she represents a bridge for this generation, on the cusp with a knack for connecting different age groups).
Influences and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, referencing it together with the classic series, Insecure and the innovative program as influences for I Love LA, which details the journey of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and new talent manager Sennott’s character. However, the most significant influence on the moodboard belonged to the popular sitcom, that HBO sitcom depicting an up-and-coming celebrity succeeding in an often-seedy LA scene (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She began viewing it throughout COVID-19, became “obsessed”, 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 says. The concept for the series emerged—in part—from firsthand, initially difficult, transition to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a frequently discussed event for followers. This represented an era that included her grasp some big life lessons, in her career and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in Connecticut, the star started creating and acting comedy while enrolled in performance at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. 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 took matters into her own hands, appearing at amateur nights with Edebiri and uploading hysterical (and distinctly) bizarre skits digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on several females intensely obsessed with having babies; a different one envisioned being employed at the brand Hollister as like being trapped in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Emma through campus film circles and ultimately featuring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her path, she notes, has been peers offering opportunities, instead of traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, adding humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Anyone who were skeptical about her earlier will certainly be kicking themselves currently. Through she describes as a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she has manifested her dream vehicle. A few years back she posted a clip named “it’s LA” online, in which she parodied movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a series about city dwellers balancing benefits of online celebrity (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your associate being accused of being a intoxicated thief, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). Some could simple to create a series about digital influence that was horribly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that punched down at those depicted. I Love LA avoids both, creating a depiction of affluent twentysomething existence that’s frank about the grot and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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
