Rachel Sennott appears on the online meeting and immediately launches into an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, seeming really regretful. Although she's only a bit behind, she wants to justify. “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 one hopes to experience. Additionally, it’s quite unsurprising. Those who have seen the unapologetically queer and outspoken movie titled Bottoms—that she co-wrote with the director and starred in alongside close companion Ayo Edebiri—would already know that Sennott possesses a lot to share, be it on identity, sex, or the pros of creating a high-school fight club. Plus, by the end her latest multi-episode program I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star has even more insights regarding the struggles of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, Sennott represents a bridge for this generation, straddling eras adept for bridging different age groups).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges enthusiastic, referencing the show in addition to the HBO hit, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as influences for I Love LA, which tracks the struggles of a social media star Tallulah and her friend and fledgling representative Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the largest presence on concept was reserved for Entourage, that HBO sitcom depicting an up-and-coming A-list actor succeeding in a gritty Hollywood (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She discovered it during the pandemic, became “captivated”, and decided to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The inspiration for this project emerged—partly—from her own, at first fractious, transition to Tinseltown and from her cosmic event, a much-talked-about event for astrology heads. That period marked a phase that saw her understand major truths, professionally and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” 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
Growing up in the East Coast, the star began writing and performing comedy while pursuing performance 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. 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.”
She decided to act independently, taking the stage at amateur nights with Edebiri and posting hilarious (and decidedly) weird online content online. One, Baby Cult, depicted a group of women obsessively fixated on motherhood; another envisioned being employed at the brand Hollister as like being stuck in a scary movie. Interestingly, she connected with Emma through campus film circles and ultimately appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her path, she says, has been people her own age supporting her, rather than the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, continuing humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Those who were skeptical about her previously will surely be kicking themselves currently. As part of she labels a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she has created the perfect project. Previously she posted content titled “it’s LA” online, in which she lampooned movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a series about city dwellers managing the perks of digital stardom (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your client being labeled as being a substance-abusing criminal, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). It would be simple to create a series about digital influence that was extremely idealized—or, worse, one that belittled at its subjects. The series avoids both, resulting in a portrait of privileged young adult life that’s honest about the chaos and the glamour.
Empathetic Approach
“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
