Rachel Sennott joins the digital interview and at once launches into an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, sounding genuinely remorseful. 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!” Fortunately, for a writer, that’s just what you want to experience. Moreover, it’s pretty expected. Those familiar with her boldly openly gay and outspoken movie titled Bottoms—that she co-wrote with her creative partner and starred in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—would understand that Sennott holds a lot to say, whether on roles, sex, or the appeal of starting a youth fight club. Plus, by the end the new eight-part HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star has further insights regarding the struggles of modern youth (As a millennial, she serves as a relatable figure for this generation, straddling eras skilled for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being a fan, naming the show in addition to the classic series, Insecure and the innovative program as influences for I Love LA, which tracks the struggles of an influencer Tallulah and ally and aspiring talent manager Maia. Notably, the largest influence on creative vision went to the HBO series, the program focusing on a rising Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt LA scene (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott began viewing it during COVID-19, became “captivated”, and resolved to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she notes. The inspiration for I Love LA came—to some extent—from firsthand, originally fractious, move to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a popular phenomenon for followers. It was a phase that saw her understand some big insights, work-wise and individually. “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.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Brought up in New England, the star began writing and performing humor while pursuing performance at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she states. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott decided to act independently, performing at live shows with Ayo and posting uproarious (and decidedly) bizarre online content on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed several females intensely fixated on having babies; a different one portrayed being employed at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being stuck in a horror film. By chance, she connected with Seligman through NYU’s movie community and eventually starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her journey, she says, has been contemporaries supporting her, instead of established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, continuing amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who had doubts about Sennott earlier will certainly be regretting it now. In what she labels a “wild, full-circle” development, she appears to manifested her dream vehicle. In 2019 she posted a video titled about Los Angeles online, in which she parodied movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a show about LA residents managing the perks of online celebrity (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being suspected of being a substance-abusing thief, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). One might simple to produce a show about internet celebrity that was horribly glamorous—or, worse, one that punched down at its subjects. I Love LA steers clear of each, resulting in a portrait of affluent millennial existence that’s candid about the chaos and the shine.
Empathetic Approach
“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
