Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and right away starts an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, sounding genuinely regretful. Despite being only a couple of minutes late, she wants to explain. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, in this context, this is exactly what you want to hear. Moreover, it’s quite predictable. Those who know the fearlessly queer and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—which Sennott penned with Emma Seligman and appeared in with her friend Ayo Edebiri—can already know that she holds a lot to share, ranging from on roles, sex, or the merits of creating a youth fight club. Plus, by the end her new eight-part show titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries additional perspectives regarding the struggles of young adulthood (As a millennial, she represents a bridge to younger audiences, straddling eras with a knack for bridging different age groups).
Influences and Creative Vision
Parallels to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, naming the show together with the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as influences for I Love LA, which follows the travails of online personality Tallulah and close companion who is also aspiring representative Maia. Notably, the largest spot on the moodboard went to the HBO series, that program about a rising celebrity succeeding in a corrupt LA scene (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott discovered it amid COVID-19, became “hooked”, and chose to put her own twist 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 says. The concept for this project originated—partly—from personal, originally rocky, relocation to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about phenomenon for astrology heads. It was an era that involved her understand major truths, work-wise and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Starting Out
Raised in Connecticut, Sennott began creating and acting comedy while pursuing 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.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She took matters into her own hands, appearing at amateur nights with Ayo and sharing hysterical (and distinctly) bizarre skits digitally. One, Baby Cult, followed several females intensely fixated on motherhood; another envisioned working at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being caught in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a religious event with echoes of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her journey, she notes, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, adding amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who had doubts about Sennott then will surely be kicking themselves now. Through she labels a “wild, full-circle” development, she appears to created an ideal role. Previously she uploaded content titled on LA life on the internet, in which she parodied movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a series about Angelenos balancing the perks of online celebrity (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being labeled as being a intoxicated thief, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). One might simple to produce a show about online fame that was horribly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at its subjects. This show does neither, resulting in a portrait of privileged twentysomething life that’s frank about the grot 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
