Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and immediately launches into an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, sounding really apologetic. Although she's only a couple of minutes behind, she needs to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, during an interview, that’s just what one hopes to hear. Besides, it’s pretty unsurprising. Those who know the boldly LGBTQ+ and outspoken project Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with her creative partner and featured in alongside collaborator the talented actress—will already know that she possesses a lot to discuss, be it about roles, sex, or the merits of forming a high-school fight club. Plus, after watching the new eight-part HBO series titled I Love LA, viewers realize that the star has additional thoughts about the struggles of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she represents an honorary member of the gang, straddling eras skilled for straddling different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being a fan, referencing the show alongside the classic series, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for her series, which follows the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and new agent Sennott’s character. However, the biggest influence on creative vision was reserved for the HBO series, the HBO sitcom about an emerging A-list actor navigating in a gritty Hollywood (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She started watching it throughout the pandemic, became “hooked”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she explains. The inspiration for I Love LA emerged—to some extent—from her own, at first fractious, move to Tinseltown and from her cosmic event, a much-talked-about occurrence for enthusiasts. That period marked a time that saw her learn significant insights, in her career and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Starting Out
Growing up in Connecticut, Sennott started developing and showcasing comedy while pursuing performance at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She seized control, taking the stage at open mics with Edebiri and sharing hilarious (and decidedly) unconventional online content on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed several females intensely fixated on having babies; a different one imagined being employed at the brand Hollister as similar to being trapped in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she met Seligman through NYU’s movie community and eventually starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a funeral gathering with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her path, she says, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, instead of the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, stating humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Individuals who questioned about Sennott previously will certainly be regretting it today. Through she calls a “astonishingly complete” story, she appears to achieved an ideal role. A few years back she shared a video called “it’s LA” on social media, in which she mocked movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a show about LA residents balancing advantages of internet fame (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being labeled as being a substance-abusing thief, and possibly becoming a risky outcast). It would be easy to make a series about digital influence that was overly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that punched down at the characters. I Love LA does neither, resulting in a portrait of privileged twentysomething life that’s honest about the grot and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” she says. “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
