Rachel Sennott joins the digital interview and at once starts an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, sounding truly apologetic. She is only slightly delayed, she feels compelled to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s precisely what one hopes to hear. Moreover, it’s fairly predictable. Anyone who have seen the unapologetically queer and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with the director and featured in alongside close companion The Bear’s standout—would already know that she possesses much to discuss, be it on roles, intimacy, or the pros of creating a youth brawl society. And, by the end her new eight-part program titled I Love LA, it is clear that she holds further thoughts on the darker side of modern youth (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as an honorary member to younger audiences, straddling eras adept for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being enthusiastic, referencing it in addition to the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as inspirations for the project, which follows the struggles of online personality Tallulah and ally and new representative Maia. Perhaps, the most significant influence on the moodboard belonged to the popular sitcom, the show focusing on an up-and-coming Hollywood star succeeding in an often-seedy Hollywood (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott began viewing it amid the pandemic, became “captivated”, and chose to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The concept for I Love LA emerged—in part—from personal, originally rocky, relocation to Tinseltown and from her cosmic event, a popular phenomenon for astrology heads. That period marked a time that saw her understand some big life lessons, work-wise and personally. “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…”
Humble Origins
Growing up in New England, the star began developing and showcasing stand-up while enrolled in theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at amateur nights with Edebiri and uploading uproarious (and very) bizarre skits online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women intensely drawn to motherhood; another envisioned being employed at the brand Hollister as like being caught in a scary movie. By chance, she connected with Seligman through the university’s film scene and ended up appearing in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a religious event with shades of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her career, she explains, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, continuing with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who had doubts about Sennott then will certainly be regretting it today. Through she describes as a “incredibly circular” story, she seems to have manifested her dream vehicle. Previously she posted a video titled on LA life on the internet, in which she mocked film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a series about city dwellers managing benefits of online celebrity (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your associate being suspected of being a intoxicated stealer, and perhaps becoming a risky pariah). One might easy to make a series about internet celebrity that was horribly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at its subjects. The series steers clear of each, making for a representation of advantaged millennial life that’s candid about the mess and the shine.
Empathetic Approach
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
