Rachel Sennott appears on the digital interview and at once begins an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, seeming genuinely apologetic. Despite being only a couple of minutes delayed, she feels compelled to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, in this context, that’s exactly what you want to hear. Additionally, it’s quite unsurprising. Those who have seen the unapologetically openly gay and brash movie Bottoms—which Sennott penned with Emma Seligman and featured in alongside her friend the talented actress—will already know that Sennott holds plenty to discuss, be it on identity, sex, or the merits of creating a teen combat group. Furthermore, by the end her new eight-part show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has even more insights about the darker side of young adulthood (At 30, she serves as an honorary member for this generation, straddling eras adept for connecting both generations).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and Sennott admits to being enthusiastic, citing the show together with the classic series, Insecure and Atlanta as influences for her series, which details the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and new talent manager Sennott’s character. Notably, the biggest spot on the moodboard was reserved for Entourage, the show focusing on an up-and-coming celebrity making his way in an often-seedy entertainment industry (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott discovered it during lockdown, became “obsessed”, and decided to add a fresh perspective 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 explains. The idea for I Love LA came—to some extent—from personal, at first rocky, transition to Tinseltown and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed phenomenon for astrology heads. That period marked an era that included her grasp significant life lessons, in her career and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Starting Out
Brought up in New England, the star began creating and acting humor while enrolled in performance at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at live shows with Edebiri and uploading uproarious (and decidedly) bizarre comedy videos online. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on characters fetishistically fixated on having babies; another envisioned working at a trendy retail outlet as like being trapped in a horror film. Interestingly, she encountered Emma through NYU’s movie community and ended up starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a religious event with shades of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been peers supporting her, rather than the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, stating humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who had doubts about Sennott earlier will certainly be feeling foolish currently. As part of she calls a “astonishingly complete” development, she has created the perfect project. Previously she shared a clip called “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a comedy about Angelenos managing benefits of digital stardom (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being suspected of being a intoxicated criminal, and perhaps becoming a unreliable outcast). Some could simple to produce a show about internet celebrity that was extremely glamorous—or, more problematic, one that punched down at its subjects. The series does neither, creating a depiction of privileged millennial living that’s frank about the mess and the glamour.
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 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
