Rachel Sennott enters the digital interview and immediately begins an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, sounding really regretful. Although she's only slightly behind, she wants to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, in this context, this is just what one hopes to encounter. Additionally, it’s pretty expected. Viewers who have seen her fearlessly LGBTQ+ and brash project titled Bottoms—which she penned with Emma Seligman and appeared in alongside collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that she possesses plenty to discuss, whether on roles, intimacy, or the appeal of creating a teen brawl society. And, after watching her latest seasonal show titled I Love LA, viewers realize that the star holds additional insights on the darker side of Gen Z life (At 30, Sennott represents an honorary member for this generation, on the cusp adept for connecting different age groups).
Influences and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and the actress is enthusiastic, referencing the show in addition to the classic series, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as guides for her series, which tracks the journey of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion who is also aspiring representative portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the largest influence on concept was reserved for Entourage, that program depicting an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in an often-seedy LA scene (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott started watching it during COVID-19, became “captivated”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The concept for I Love LA originated—to some extent—from personal, originally difficult, move to Los Angeles and from her cosmic event, a much-talked-about event for followers. It was a time that involved her learn significant truths, professionally and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Humble Origins
Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott started writing and performing stand-up while enrolled in acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at open mics with Edebiri and posting hilarious (and distinctly) unconventional online content on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on several females intensely fixated on motherhood; a different one portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being trapped in a thriller. Interestingly, she connected with Seligman through NYU’s movie community and eventually starring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a religious event with shades of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her journey, she notes, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, instead of established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, adding amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Those who had doubts about her previously will certainly be regretting it today. Through she describes as a “astonishingly complete” story, she seems to have created an ideal role. Previously she shared content named about Los Angeles on social media, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a series about Angelenos managing the perks of internet fame (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your friend being labeled as being a substance-abusing thief, and perhaps becoming a unreliable pariah). One might tempting to produce a series about online fame that was horribly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at those depicted. This show avoids both, creating a depiction of affluent twentysomething existence that’s frank about the grot and the glamour.
Empathetic Approach
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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
