Rachel Sennott joins the digital interview and at once begins an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, seeming truly remorseful. Although she's only a bit delayed, she feels compelled to clarify. “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, this is just what you want to hear. Besides, it’s fairly expected. Those who know her unapologetically queer and outspoken film Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with her creative partner and appeared in alongside her friend Ayo Edebiri—would be aware that Sennott possesses much to say, ranging from about gender, intimacy, or the pros of starting a youth fight club. Plus, by the end the new eight-part HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds further perspectives on the challenges of modern youth (Now in her thirties, Sennott represents an honorary member to younger audiences, on the cusp adept for straddling both generations).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott readily acknowledges enthusiastic, referencing it together with the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as influences for the project, which follows the struggles of a social media star Tallulah and her friend and aspiring agent Maia. Notably, the largest presence on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, that show focusing on a rising A-list actor navigating in a gritty LA scene (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it throughout COVID-19, became “hooked”, and chose 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 inspiration for the series originated—in part—from firsthand, initially difficult, move to LA and from the cosmic event, a popular phenomenon for astrology heads. This represented an era that involved her learn significant life lessons, in her career and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Raised in New England, the star began writing and performing comedy 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 says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott seized control, taking the stage at amateur nights with Ayo and posting hysterical (and decidedly) bizarre skits on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed several females intensely obsessed with pregnancy; another envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being caught in a thriller. By chance, she encountered Seligman through the university’s film scene and ended up featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her career, she explains, has been people her own age giving her a shot, as opposed to traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, adding amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Rising Success
Anyone who were skeptical about Sennott then will likely be regretting it today. In what she describes as a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she appears to achieved her dream vehicle. A few years back she uploaded a video called on LA life on the internet, in which she parodied film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a show about LA residents managing advantages of internet fame (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your associate being accused of being a intoxicated thief, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). It would be simple to make a series about internet celebrity that was horribly idealized—or, more problematic, one that punched down at its subjects. I Love LA avoids both, resulting in a depiction of affluent twentysomething life that’s frank about the grot and the appeal.
Balanced Perspective
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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
