Rachel Sennott joins the video call and immediately launches into an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, sounding truly remorseful. Despite being only a bit late, she wants to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, during an interview, that’s just what is ideal to experience. Additionally, it’s pretty expected. Viewers who have seen the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and outspoken project Bottoms—which Sennott penned with the director and featured in alongside collaborator The Bear’s standout—would already know that she has a lot to say, ranging from about roles, relationships, or the pros of starting a teen brawl society. And, once you finish her recent multi-episode program titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she has further thoughts on the darker side of modern youth (At 30, Sennott represents an honorary member to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial skilled for bridging different age groups).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and Sennott admits to being a fan, naming the show together with the HBO hit, Insecure and Atlanta as influences for I Love LA, which follows the journey of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also fledgling agent Sennott’s character. However, the most significant presence on the moodboard belonged to the popular sitcom, the show focusing on a rising celebrity making his way in a corrupt LA scene (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it throughout the pandemic, became “hooked”, and decided to add a fresh perspective 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 inspiration for this project originated—to some extent—from her own, initially fractious, move to LA and from the cosmic event, a popular phenomenon for enthusiasts. That period marked a phase that involved her grasp significant life lessons, work-wise and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Humble Origins
Growing up in the East Coast, the star started writing and performing humor 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 states. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She seized control, performing at open mics with Edebiri and sharing hilarious (and distinctly) weird online content online. One, Baby Cult, followed several females obsessively drawn to motherhood; a different one envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being trapped in a horror film. Interestingly, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a Jewish wake with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her path, she notes, has been contemporaries supporting her, rather than traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, continuing amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who had doubts about her previously will certainly be regretting it today. In what she calls a “incredibly circular” story, she has achieved her dream vehicle. A few years back she uploaded content named “it’s LA” online, in which she mocked movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a show about city dwellers managing the perks of internet fame (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being labeled as being a drug-addled stealer, and possibly becoming a risky persona non grata). One might tempting to make a show about digital influence that was extremely glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at the characters. This show does neither, making for a depiction of privileged millennial life that’s frank about the grot and the appeal.
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 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
