Rachel Sennott appears on the digital interview and immediately begins an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, sounding truly apologetic. Although she's only a couple of minutes delayed, she needs to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, for a writer, that’s exactly what is ideal to hear. Moreover, it’s fairly unsurprising. Viewers who know the unapologetically queer and brash project Bottoms—which she penned with the director and starred in together with close companion Ayo Edebiri—would already know that she holds much to say, whether on gender, intimacy, or the appeal of starting a youth brawl society. Plus, once you finish the latest eight-part show titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she holds further thoughts about the challenges of young adulthood (At 30, Sennott represents a relatable figure for this generation, a tale-end millennial skilled for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and Sennott admits to being a fan, naming it alongside the HBO hit, Insecure and Atlanta as guides for the project, which tracks the struggles of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion who is also new talent manager portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the biggest spot on creative vision went to Entourage, the show about a rising Hollywood star navigating in a gritty LA scene (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She began viewing it amid lockdown, became “obsessed”, and decided to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The inspiration for the series came—in part—from personal, at first rocky, move to LA and from the saturn return, a frequently discussed event for followers. That period marked an era that included her grasp some big insights, work-wise and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in Connecticut, Sennott commenced creating and acting humor while enrolled in theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “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, performing at open mics with Ayo and uploading hysterical (and distinctly) bizarre comedy videos online. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed a group of women fetishistically drawn to having babies; a different one imagined working at the brand Hollister as like being trapped in a scary movie. Interestingly, she encountered Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up starring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a religious event with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her career, she says, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, as opposed to the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, continuing amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Anyone who questioned regarding her then will certainly be feeling foolish today. As part of she labels a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she appears to manifested her dream vehicle. Previously she uploaded a clip titled about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a comedy about Angelenos managing the perks of digital stardom (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your friend being accused of being a drug-addled stealer, and potentially becoming a unreliable outcast). One might simple to make a program about online fame that was horribly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that mocked at its subjects. I Love LA avoids both, resulting in a depiction of advantaged young adult existence that’s candid about the grot 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 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
