Rachel Sennott appears on the digital interview and immediately starts an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, seeming really regretful. Although she's only slightly delayed, she needs to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, for a writer, this is just what is ideal to experience. Besides, it’s quite expected. Viewers familiar with her fearlessly queer and outspoken movie Bottoms—which she penned with her creative partner and starred in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—would understand that Sennott possesses much to share, ranging from about roles, intimacy, or the merits of forming a youth brawl society. Plus, once you finish her latest seasonal program I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star has further thoughts regarding the struggles of modern youth (As a millennial, Sennott represents an honorary member for this generation, straddling eras adept for straddling different age groups).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and the actress is an admirer, naming the show alongside the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as guides for the project, which follows the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also fledgling representative Maia. Notably, the biggest influence on creative vision was reserved for the HBO series, the show depicting an emerging Hollywood star making his way in an often-seedy entertainment industry (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it throughout COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and decided to create a new version on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The idea for this project emerged—partly—from her own, at first fractious, move to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a frequently discussed event for followers. It was a time that included her grasp major life lessons, work-wise and individually. “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
Brought up in the East Coast, Sennott began creating and acting humor while pursuing theatre at a prestigious arts school. “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. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and posting hysterical (and distinctly) unconventional skits digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted a group of women fetishistically drawn to motherhood; a different one imagined being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being trapped in a horror film. By chance, she connected with Emma through NYU’s movie community and ultimately featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a religious event with shades of the intense thriller. The big theme of her path, she explains, has been people her own age giving her a shot, instead of the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she repeats, continuing amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who were skeptical about her earlier will surely be regretting it today. In what she labels a “astonishingly complete” development, she appears to created an ideal role. In 2019 she posted a clip titled on LA life on social media, in which she parodied movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a comedy about LA residents balancing the perks of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being accused of being a intoxicated thief, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). It would be tempting to create a program about internet celebrity that was overly aspirational—or, worse, one that belittled at its subjects. I Love LA steers clear of each, creating a depiction of affluent twentysomething existence that’s frank about the chaos and the shine.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
