Rachel Sennott enters the digital interview and immediately starts an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, sounding truly remorseful. Although she's only slightly late, she feels compelled to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, for a writer, that’s precisely what is ideal to experience. Additionally, it’s fairly unsurprising. Anyone who know the fearlessly openly gay and brash movie titled Bottoms—that Sennott penned with Emma Seligman and appeared in together with her friend the talented actress—would be aware that she possesses plenty to share, whether on identity, intimacy, or the merits of creating a teen combat group. And, after watching the latest seasonal show titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries further insights regarding the darker side of Gen Z life (As a millennial, Sennott serves as an honorary member for this generation, straddling eras adept for bridging different age groups).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and the actress readily acknowledges an admirer, naming it together with the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as guides for the project, which follows the travails of an influencer Tallulah and her friend who is also aspiring representative Maia. However, the most significant influence on the moodboard belonged to the HBO series, that HBO sitcom depicting an emerging A-list actor succeeding in an often-seedy Hollywood (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She began viewing it amid lockdown, became “captivated”, and decided to create a new version 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 says. The idea for I Love LA came—partly—from firsthand, at first rocky, transition to Los Angeles and from her cosmic event, a frequently discussed occurrence for astrology heads. This represented a time that saw her learn some big insights, professionally and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Starting Out
Raised in New England, Sennott began creating and acting comedy while studying performance at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “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. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott decided to act independently, performing at live shows with her friend and uploading uproarious (and very) weird skits digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted characters obsessively obsessed with having babies; another imagined being employed at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being stuck in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Emma through NYU’s movie community and ultimately featuring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a religious event with shades of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her career, she says, has been people her own age offering opportunities, instead of traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, stating humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Those who questioned about her previously will likely be feeling foolish now. In what she labels a “astonishingly complete” development, she has achieved an ideal role. A few years back she uploaded content called about Los Angeles online, in which she parodied film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a series about Angelenos balancing the perks of digital stardom (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being accused of being a drug-addled stealer, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). It would be tempting to make a show about online fame that was extremely idealized—or, more problematic, one that mocked at its subjects. This show avoids both, making for a representation of affluent young adult existence that’s frank about the grot and the glamour.
Empathetic Approach
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
