Rachel Sennott enters the digital interview and right away begins an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, appearing really remorseful. Although she's only a bit late, she feels compelled to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, for a writer, that’s exactly what is ideal to encounter. Moreover, it’s quite unsurprising. Those familiar with her boldly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass project Bottoms—that Sennott penned with the director and featured in alongside her friend Ayo Edebiri—can be aware that Sennott holds plenty to discuss, be it about roles, sex, or the pros of creating a youth brawl society. Furthermore, after watching the recent eight-part program titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has additional thoughts regarding the challenges of modern youth (At 30, she is an honorary member of the gang, on the cusp adept for bridging different age groups).
Influences and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and the actress is an admirer, referencing it alongside the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as guides for I Love LA, which tracks the struggles of an influencer Tallulah and ally who is also fledgling talent manager Sennott’s character. Notably, the biggest influence on creative vision went to the popular sitcom, the program focusing on an emerging Hollywood star making his way in an often-seedy Hollywood (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott started watching it throughout lockdown, became “hooked”, and resolved to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The concept for the series came—partly—from firsthand, initially difficult, transition to Tinseltown and from the saturn return, a frequently discussed occurrence for followers. It was a phase that involved her understand major truths, work-wise and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in New England, the star started writing and performing humor while enrolled in acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She decided to act independently, appearing at open mics with her friend and sharing uproarious (and decidedly) weird comedy videos on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed a group of women intensely drawn to motherhood; a different one envisioned being employed at the brand Hollister as like being trapped in a scary movie. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through campus film circles and ended up starring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a religious event with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her path, she explains, has been people her own age giving her a shot, as opposed to traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, adding with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Anyone who had doubts about Sennott previously will certainly be regretting it today. As part of she describes as a “astonishingly complete” story, she has manifested the perfect project. In 2019 she uploaded a clip named “it’s LA” online, in which she mocked movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a show about city dwellers balancing the perks of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being accused of being a substance-abusing criminal, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). Some could easy to make a program about online fame that was extremely idealized—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at those depicted. I Love LA does neither, creating a portrait of affluent twentysomething existence that’s candid about the chaos and the shine.
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 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
