Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and immediately launches into an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, seeming genuinely regretful. Despite being 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, in this context, that’s exactly what you want to hear. Additionally, it’s pretty expected. Those who know the boldly queer and outspoken project titled Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and featured in with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will already know that she possesses much to say, ranging from about roles, sex, or the appeal of starting a high-school combat group. Plus, once you finish her recent multi-episode HBO series I Love LA, viewers realize that she has additional thoughts regarding the darker side of modern youth (As a millennial, she serves as a bridge of the gang, on the cusp skilled for straddling both generations).
Influences and Creative Vision
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress is a fan, referencing it alongside the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as guides for her series, which follows the struggles of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also fledgling talent manager portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the most significant influence on concept was reserved for Entourage, the program about a rising A-list actor making his way in a gritty LA scene (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She started watching it throughout COVID-19, became “hooked”, and resolved to put her own twist 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 concept for I Love LA emerged—in part—from her own, at first fractious, transition to Tinseltown and from her cosmic event, a popular event for followers. This represented a phase that involved her learn major 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 commenced writing and performing comedy while enrolled in 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. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott seized control, taking the stage at amateur nights with Edebiri and uploading hysterical (and very) weird online content online. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted characters intensely obsessed with having babies; another envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being stuck in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Seligman through the university’s film scene and eventually appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a funeral gathering with shades of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her career, she notes, has been people her own age giving her a shot, as opposed to the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, continuing amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who had doubts about Sennott earlier will certainly be regretting it currently. Through she labels a “incredibly circular” development, she seems to have achieved the perfect project. A few years back she uploaded a video called “it’s LA” on social media, in which she mocked film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a comedy about city dwellers balancing advantages of online celebrity (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being labeled as being a substance-abusing criminal, and perhaps becoming a risky persona non grata). It would be easy to produce a series about online fame that was overly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at those depicted. I Love LA does neither, making for a depiction of advantaged young adult living that’s honest about the chaos and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” she comments. “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
