Rachel Sennott joins the video call and at once starts an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, seeming really regretful. Despite being only slightly late, she feels compelled to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, in this context, this is just what you want to hear. Besides, it’s quite unsurprising. Those familiar with her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—that Sennott penned with her creative partner and appeared in together with close companion The Bear’s standout—would already know that she has much to discuss, ranging from on gender, relationships, or the pros of forming a teen combat group. Furthermore, after watching her new seasonal HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that she holds even more thoughts on the darker side of modern youth (As a millennial, she is a relatable figure for this generation, straddling eras with a knack for straddling both generations).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and the actress admits to being an admirer, referencing the show together with the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as influences for I Love LA, which tracks the journey of a social media star Tallulah and ally who is also aspiring agent Sennott’s character. Notably, the biggest presence on concept belonged to the popular sitcom, that HBO sitcom depicting an emerging Hollywood star making his way in a corrupt LA scene (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it amid COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and decided to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she explains. The inspiration for I Love LA emerged—to some extent—from her own, at first difficult, relocation to Tinseltown and from her cosmic event, a frequently discussed occurrence for enthusiasts. This represented an era that saw her grasp some big truths, work-wise and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Raised in the East Coast, 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. “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. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, appearing at live shows with Ayo and sharing hilarious (and very) bizarre skits on the internet. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted characters intensely fixated on pregnancy; another envisioned being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being caught in a scary movie. Interestingly, she met Seligman through the university’s film scene and ultimately appearing in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a Jewish wake with echoes of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her path, she explains, has been peers offering opportunities, rather than the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, stating with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Those who were skeptical about Sennott earlier will likely be regretting it currently. Through she calls a “incredibly circular” story, she appears to achieved her dream vehicle. Previously she uploaded content titled about Los Angeles on social media, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a show about Angelenos managing the perks of digital stardom (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your friend being labeled as being a intoxicated thief, and perhaps becoming a unreliable outcast). One might simple to create a series about internet celebrity that was extremely glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at those depicted. I Love LA does neither, making for a representation of affluent millennial existence that’s honest about the grot and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“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
