Rachel Sennott enters the video call and at once starts an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, seeming really apologetic. She is only slightly behind, she wants to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, for a writer, this is precisely what one hopes to encounter. Additionally, it’s pretty predictable. Those familiar with her unapologetically openly gay and unapologetically crass film titled Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with her creative partner and appeared in alongside close companion Ayo Edebiri—can be aware that Sennott holds much to say, ranging from on identity, relationships, or the merits of starting a high-school fight club. Plus, by the end the new multi-episode program I Love LA, viewers realize that she carries further insights regarding the struggles of modern youth (Now in her thirties, she represents a bridge of the gang, straddling eras with a knack for bridging both generations).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and Sennott is an admirer, naming the show in addition to the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as guides for the project, which details the travails of an influencer Tallulah and her friend who is also fledgling representative Maia. However, the largest spot on the moodboard belonged to the HBO series, that HBO sitcom depicting a rising celebrity making his way in an often-seedy entertainment industry (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it amid lockdown, became “hooked”, 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 concept for I Love LA originated—in part—from firsthand, at first fractious, move to LA and from her astrological phase, a frequently discussed phenomenon for astrology heads. This represented a time that involved her understand some big life lessons, work-wise and in private life. “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.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Humble Origins
Raised in Connecticut, the star commenced creating and acting comedy while pursuing performance at a prestigious arts school. “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. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott decided to act independently, performing at amateur nights with her friend and sharing hysterical (and decidedly) weird online content on the internet. One, Baby Cult, followed a group of women fetishistically fixated on motherhood; another imagined being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being caught in a scary movie. By chance, she met Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ultimately featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, instead of traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, adding amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who had doubts about her previously will certainly be feeling foolish now. Through she calls a “astonishingly complete” development, she appears to achieved her dream vehicle. In 2019 she shared content titled on LA life online, in which she lampooned film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a series about Angelenos balancing benefits of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your friend being suspected of being a substance-abusing stealer, and possibly becoming a unreliable outcast). One might easy to produce a show about online fame that was extremely aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at those depicted. I Love LA does neither, resulting in a depiction of affluent twentysomething existence that’s candid about the grot and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
