Rachel Sennott joins the digital interview and right away starts an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, sounding genuinely apologetic. Although she's only slightly late, she feels compelled to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, for a writer, this is precisely what is ideal to encounter. Additionally, it’s quite predictable. Anyone who know her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and outspoken film Bottoms—that she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and featured in with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—can already know that Sennott holds much to share, be it on roles, relationships, or the merits of creating a youth brawl society. Furthermore, after watching the new multi-episode show I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she carries further thoughts on the struggles of modern youth (As a millennial, Sennott represents an honorary member to younger audiences, straddling eras adept for bridging different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and Sennott readily acknowledges a fan, citing the show together with the HBO hit, Insecure and the innovative program as guides for I Love LA, which follows the journey of an influencer Tallulah and close companion who is also fledgling representative Maia. Perhaps, the most significant spot on the moodboard was reserved for the HBO series, the show depicting a rising celebrity succeeding in a gritty LA scene (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She began viewing it throughout COVID-19, became “captivated”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she notes. The idea for the series emerged—in part—from personal, at first fractious, relocation to Tinseltown and from her astrological phase, a popular event for followers. That period marked a time that included her learn some big insights, professionally and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Raised in the East Coast, the star started creating and acting comedy while studying theatre at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. 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?”
Sennott seized control, performing at amateur nights with Ayo and sharing uproarious (and very) weird skits digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on a group of women fetishistically obsessed with having babies; a different one imagined being employed at the brand Hollister as like being stuck in a horror film. By chance, she met Seligman through the university’s film scene and ended up featuring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a religious event with hints of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her journey, she notes, has been contemporaries supporting her, rather than established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, adding humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who were skeptical about Sennott then will certainly be feeling foolish today. As part of she describes as a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she seems to have achieved an ideal role. In 2019 she uploaded content named about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a series about city dwellers juggling the perks of online celebrity (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being suspected of being a intoxicated criminal, and perhaps becoming a risky persona non grata). It would be simple to create a program about internet celebrity that was horribly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that punched down at its subjects. This show does neither, making for a depiction of privileged young adult life that’s honest about the grot and the glamour.
Empathetic Approach
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
