Rachel Sennott appears on the digital interview and right away begins an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, sounding genuinely remorseful. Despite being only a couple of minutes behind, she needs to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, in this context, this is exactly what one hopes to encounter. Besides, it’s fairly predictable. Those who have seen her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and outspoken project titled Bottoms—which she penned with Emma Seligman and starred in together with her friend the talented actress—will already know that she holds plenty to say, whether on identity, intimacy, or the merits of forming a high-school fight club. And, after watching her recent seasonal HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she carries further insights about the darker side of young adulthood (As a millennial, she serves as a relatable figure to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial adept for bridging both generations).
Influences and Artistic Direction
Parallels to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges enthusiastic, naming it in addition to the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as guides for I Love LA, which follows the travails of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also new representative portrayed by Sennott. However, the largest presence on creative vision belonged to the popular sitcom, the program depicting a rising celebrity succeeding in a corrupt LA scene (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it during COVID-19, became “hooked”, and resolved to put her own twist 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 inspiration for I Love LA originated—partly—from personal, initially fractious, transition to Los Angeles and from the astrological phase, a much-talked-about phenomenon for astrology heads. It was a time that involved her learn major insights, professionally and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Brought up in New England, the star commenced developing and showcasing stand-up while enrolled in performance at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “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. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at amateur nights with her friend and sharing uproarious (and very) weird comedy videos on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed characters obsessively drawn to motherhood; a different one envisioned working at the brand Hollister as akin to being trapped in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Seligman through the university’s film scene and ultimately appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a religious event with hints of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her path, she explains, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, instead of the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she confirms, stating amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Individuals who had doubts about her earlier will certainly be kicking themselves today. Through she describes as a “wild, full-circle” story, she appears to achieved her dream vehicle. In 2019 she posted content called on LA life online, in which she mocked movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a comedy about city dwellers balancing advantages of internet fame (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your client being accused of being a intoxicated criminal, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). One might easy to create a program about online fame that was extremely glamorous—or, more problematic, one that mocked at its subjects. The series does neither, creating a depiction of affluent young adult living that’s candid about the chaos and the shine.
Nuanced Portrayal
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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
