Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and at once starts an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, seeming truly regretful. Although she's only slightly delayed, she needs to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Fortunately, in this context, this is exactly what one hopes to hear. Additionally, it’s fairly unsurprising. Viewers who have seen her unapologetically openly gay and brash film titled Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and appeared in with close companion Ayo Edebiri—can understand that Sennott has much to discuss, whether about roles, sex, or the merits of creating a high-school brawl society. And, once you finish the new seasonal show I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds additional insights on the darker side of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, Sennott represents a bridge to younger audiences, on the cusp adept for bridging both generations).
Influences and Artistic Direction
Parallels to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is enthusiastic, naming the show together with the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as influences for her series, which follows the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also aspiring talent manager Maia. However, the largest presence on concept was reserved for the popular sitcom, the show about an up-and-coming Hollywood star succeeding in a corrupt Hollywood (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it throughout COVID-19, became “captivated”, and chose to create a new version 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 inspiration for this project originated—to some extent—from her own, initially fractious, transition to Los Angeles and from the cosmic event, a much-talked-about occurrence for enthusiasts. This represented a phase that saw her learn major life lessons, work-wise and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Early Beginnings
Raised in Connecticut, Sennott began writing and performing comedy while studying theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “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. 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.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at live shows with her friend and uploading hilarious (and decidedly) unconventional skits online. One, Baby Cult, followed characters obsessively obsessed with having babies; a different one envisioned being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being caught in a scary movie. Interestingly, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and ended up appearing in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her journey, she explains, has been people her own age offering opportunities, instead of established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, adding with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who questioned regarding Sennott then will certainly be regretting it today. In what she describes as a “wild, full-circle” development, she has created an ideal role. In 2019 she shared a video named on LA life online, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a show about Angelenos managing benefits of internet fame (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being labeled as being a drug-addled criminal, and potentially becoming a risky pariah). Some could tempting to create a series about digital influence that was horribly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA avoids both, resulting in a depiction of affluent millennial existence that’s frank about the mess and the shine.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
