Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and immediately begins an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, seeming genuinely regretful. Although she's only a bit delayed, she wants to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Fortunately, for a writer, that’s precisely what is ideal to hear. Moreover, it’s quite expected. Those who know the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass movie Bottoms—that Sennott penned with her creative partner and starred in alongside her friend the talented actress—can already know that Sennott holds plenty to say, whether about roles, relationships, or the appeal of forming a high-school brawl society. Furthermore, after watching her recent seasonal HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she holds further perspectives regarding the challenges of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, she represents a relatable figure for this generation, on the cusp with a knack for straddling different age groups).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, naming it alongside the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as influences for her series, which follows the travails of a social media star Tallulah and her friend and fledgling representative Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the largest influence on concept went to Entourage, that show focusing on an up-and-coming celebrity making his way in an often-seedy LA scene (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it amid COVID-19, became “captivated”, and decided to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she explains. The inspiration for I Love LA originated—to some extent—from firsthand, originally difficult, relocation to LA and from her saturn return, a popular event for astrology heads. That period marked a phase that involved her understand major truths, professionally and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” 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…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in Connecticut, Sennott began developing and showcasing comedy while enrolled in performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She decided to act independently, performing at amateur nights with Ayo and posting hysterical (and decidedly) bizarre skits on the internet. One, Baby Cult, centered on several females intensely fixated on pregnancy; another envisioned working at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being trapped in a thriller. By chance, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and ended up starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her journey, she explains, has been peers offering opportunities, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, continuing amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who had doubts about Sennott then will certainly be regretting it currently. Through she describes as a “incredibly circular” story, she seems to have created the perfect project. A few years back she posted a video named on LA life on social media, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a series about city dwellers balancing the perks of internet fame (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being labeled as being a drug-addled thief, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). Some could simple to create a program about online fame that was overly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that mocked at the characters. The series steers clear of each, making for a depiction of affluent twentysomething life that’s frank about the chaos and the shine.
Empathetic Approach
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” she observes. “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
