Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and right away starts an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, sounding really regretful. Despite being only a bit delayed, she needs to justify. “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!” Fortunately, during an interview, this is exactly what one hopes to encounter. Moreover, it’s fairly predictable. Those who have seen her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and brash movie Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and featured in alongside collaborator Ayo Edebiri—would understand that Sennott possesses a lot to say, whether about gender, sex, or the pros of creating a high-school combat group. Plus, by the end her latest eight-part HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that she has even more thoughts regarding the darker side of modern youth (At 30, she represents an honorary member to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial skilled for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and Sennott admits to being an admirer, referencing the show together with Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as guides for the project, which follows the travails of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and fledgling agent Maia. Perhaps, the biggest influence on concept was reserved for the HBO series, the HBO sitcom depicting an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in a gritty entertainment industry (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it amid COVID-19, became “captivated”, and resolved to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she explains. The concept for I Love LA came—to some extent—from personal, originally fractious, relocation to Tinseltown and from the saturn return, a frequently discussed phenomenon for enthusiasts. That period marked a time that included her learn significant insights, in her career and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” 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…”
Starting Out
Brought up in Connecticut, Sennott started creating and acting comedy while pursuing theatre at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at live shows with Ayo and posting uproarious (and distinctly) bizarre comedy videos on the internet. One, Baby Cult, centered on several females fetishistically obsessed with pregnancy; a different one portrayed working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being caught in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Seligman through campus film circles and ended up featuring in her first film, Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a religious event with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her career, she notes, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, instead of traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, adding with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Rising Success
Individuals who were skeptical about her then will likely be kicking themselves today. As part of she describes as a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she appears to manifested the perfect project. Previously she uploaded content named about Los Angeles online, in which she lampooned movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a comedy about city dwellers balancing the perks of internet fame (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being suspected of being a drug-addled thief, and potentially becoming a risky outcast). It would be tempting to make a show about internet celebrity that was horribly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at the characters. I Love LA does neither, creating a representation of privileged millennial life that’s candid about the grot and the glamour.
Empathetic Approach
“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
