Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and at once starts an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, seeming really regretful. Despite being only a couple of minutes delayed, she wants to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, during an interview, that’s just what one hopes to encounter. Additionally, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone who know her unapologetically queer and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and featured in together with her friend Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that she holds a lot to discuss, ranging from about identity, relationships, or the pros of starting a youth combat group. And, by the end the new seasonal HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that she has further thoughts regarding the challenges of young adulthood (As a millennial, she represents an honorary member of the gang, straddling eras with a knack for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being an admirer, referencing the show in addition to Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as inspirations for I Love LA, which follows the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and new representative Maia. Perhaps, the most significant influence on concept belonged to the popular sitcom, the show depicting an up-and-coming A-list actor navigating in a gritty LA scene (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She discovered it amid the pandemic, became “hooked”, and decided to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she explains. The concept for this project emerged—in part—from personal, originally rocky, transition to Los Angeles and from the cosmic event, a frequently discussed occurrence for enthusiasts. That period marked an era that included her grasp significant insights, work-wise and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Early Beginnings
Raised in New England, the star commenced developing and showcasing humor while studying acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at amateur nights with Ayo and uploading hilarious (and distinctly) unconventional skits online. One, Baby Cult, followed several females intensely fixated on pregnancy; another envisioned being employed at the brand Hollister as like being trapped in a horror film. Interestingly, she met Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ultimately appearing in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a funeral gathering with echoes of the intense thriller. The big theme of her journey, she explains, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, rather than established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, adding humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who questioned about her then will certainly be feeling foolish now. In what she calls a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she has manifested the perfect project. Previously she posted a video titled “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a comedy about LA residents juggling advantages of internet fame (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being labeled as being a intoxicated thief, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). Some could simple to produce a program about internet celebrity that was extremely glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at those depicted. I Love LA steers clear of each, making for a depiction of advantaged young adult life that’s candid about the chaos and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“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
