Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and immediately begins an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, appearing really apologetic. Despite being only slightly delayed, she needs to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, for a writer, that’s just what is ideal to hear. Additionally, it’s pretty predictable. Anyone familiar with her boldly openly gay and unapologetically crass movie Bottoms—that she penned with her creative partner and featured in alongside her friend Ayo Edebiri—can already know that Sennott possesses plenty to discuss, be it about identity, sex, or the pros of starting a high-school fight club. Furthermore, once you finish the recent eight-part program titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries further thoughts on the struggles of Gen Z life (As a millennial, Sennott serves as an honorary member of the gang, on the cusp adept for bridging different age groups).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
Parallels to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and the actress admits to being an admirer, naming it together with the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as influences for the project, which tracks the struggles of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and aspiring representative Sennott’s character. However, the biggest presence on the moodboard belonged to the popular sitcom, the HBO sitcom focusing on a rising Hollywood star navigating in a gritty LA scene (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott began viewing it throughout the pandemic, became “hooked”, and chose to add a fresh perspective 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 notes. The concept for I Love LA emerged—partly—from her own, at first difficult, relocation to Los Angeles and from the astrological phase, a popular phenomenon for astrology heads. It was an era that included her learn some big truths, professionally 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.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in the East Coast, the star commenced creating and acting comedy 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 says. “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?”
She decided to act independently, taking the stage at live shows with Ayo and posting hysterical (and distinctly) weird online content online. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on characters obsessively fixated on pregnancy; a different one imagined 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 ended up starring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a religious event with shades of the intense thriller. The central motif of her path, she says, has been people her own age supporting her, instead of the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, adding with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who questioned about Sennott then will likely be feeling foolish today. Through she calls a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she appears to created her dream vehicle. A few years back she posted a video titled “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a series about city dwellers balancing the perks of internet fame (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being accused of being a drug-addled thief, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). It would be tempting to make a program about online fame that was extremely aspirational—or, more problematic, one that mocked at those depicted. The series avoids both, creating a portrait of advantaged young adult living that’s candid about the chaos and the appeal.
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 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
