Rachel Sennott appears on the online meeting and at once starts an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, appearing truly regretful. She is only a bit behind, she wants to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, during an interview, this is just what is ideal to hear. Additionally, it’s fairly unsurprising. Viewers who have seen her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass movie titled Bottoms—which she co-wrote with Emma Seligman and appeared in alongside close companion Ayo Edebiri—will understand that Sennott has much to share, ranging from about roles, sex, or the merits of forming a teen combat group. Plus, once you finish the latest seasonal program I Love LA, viewers realize that she has additional insights regarding the challenges of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she is a bridge of the gang, on the cusp with a knack for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is enthusiastic, naming the show in addition to the HBO hit, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for her series, which follows the travails of an influencer Tallulah and her friend who is also fledgling representative Maia. However, the biggest influence on concept belonged to the popular sitcom, that HBO sitcom depicting a rising A-list actor navigating in an often-seedy LA scene (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it throughout the pandemic, became “captivated”, and decided to put her own twist 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 notes. The concept for this project emerged—in part—from personal, originally difficult, move to Los Angeles and from her cosmic event, a much-talked-about phenomenon for enthusiasts. It was a time that involved her understand major truths, work-wise and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Brought up in New England, the star commenced developing and showcasing comedy while enrolled in performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She decided to act independently, appearing at amateur nights with Edebiri and sharing hilarious (and decidedly) weird comedy videos digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on a group of women intensely obsessed with having babies; another envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being caught in a scary movie. By chance, she met Emma through NYU’s movie community and ended up appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a funeral gathering with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her career, she says, has been people her own age supporting her, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she confirms, stating with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Anyone who questioned about her previously will certainly be feeling foolish now. As part of she describes as a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she seems to have created the perfect project. Previously she shared a clip called “it’s LA” online, in which she lampooned movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a series about LA residents balancing the perks of internet fame (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being accused of being a drug-addled stealer, and potentially becoming a risky pariah). Some could easy to produce a show about online fame that was overly glamorous—or, worse, one that mocked at the characters. I Love LA steers clear of each, making for a depiction of affluent millennial life that’s honest about the mess and the appeal.
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 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
