Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and at once launches into an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, appearing really regretful. Despite being only a couple of minutes late, she needs to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, in this context, that’s exactly what is ideal to hear. Moreover, it’s fairly expected. Anyone familiar with her unapologetically openly gay and brash film Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and featured in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—will already know that Sennott has much to say, whether on roles, intimacy, or the merits of starting a high-school combat group. Plus, once you finish the new multi-episode show titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she has additional thoughts about the challenges of modern youth (At 30, Sennott is a relatable figure to younger audiences, on the cusp skilled for connecting different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and Sennott is a fan, citing the show together with Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as inspirations for the project, which follows the journey of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion who is also aspiring agent Maia. Perhaps, the largest presence on creative vision was reserved for the popular sitcom, that HBO sitcom depicting an up-and-coming Hollywood star making his way in a corrupt LA scene (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She began viewing it amid COVID-19, became “hooked”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she explains. The idea for I Love LA originated—partly—from personal, originally difficult, transition to Tinseltown and from the saturn return, a much-talked-about phenomenon for enthusiasts. This represented a phase that saw her understand some big life lessons, work-wise and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Starting Out
Raised in Connecticut, Sennott began developing and showcasing stand-up while studying performance at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” 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. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She decided to act independently, taking the stage at amateur nights with her friend and posting uproarious (and very) weird skits on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted several females fetishistically fixated on motherhood; a different one portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being stuck in a thriller. Interestingly, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and eventually starring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a religious event with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her career, she notes, has been contemporaries supporting her, instead of the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she confirms, stating humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who questioned about Sennott then will likely be feeling foolish now. Through she calls a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she has created an ideal role. Previously she uploaded a video named about Los Angeles on social media, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a show about LA residents balancing advantages of digital stardom (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being suspected of being a intoxicated stealer, and possibly becoming a risky outcast). One might tempting to produce a series about digital influence that was overly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at its subjects. I Love LA steers clear of each, making for a depiction of affluent millennial life that’s honest about the mess 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 comments. “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
