Rachel Sennott appears on the online meeting and immediately launches into an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, seeming genuinely remorseful. She is only slightly behind, she feels compelled to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, for a writer, that’s precisely what you want to hear. Moreover, it’s fairly predictable. Those who have seen the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass movie titled Bottoms—which she penned with the director and starred in with close companion Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that Sennott has plenty to discuss, whether about gender, sex, or the merits of forming a youth fight club. And, once you finish her new multi-episode program titled I Love LA, viewers realize that the star has even more thoughts regarding the challenges of modern youth (As a millennial, she serves as a bridge for this generation, straddling eras skilled for bridging different age groups).
Influences and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott readily acknowledges enthusiastic, naming the show alongside the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as guides for her series, which follows the struggles of an influencer Tallulah and close companion and fledgling agent Maia. Notably, the most significant influence on the moodboard went to the HBO series, that program about an emerging Hollywood star succeeding in a gritty entertainment industry (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it amid COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and decided to put her own twist 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 says. The idea for I Love LA came—in part—from personal, originally rocky, move to Tinseltown and from the saturn return, a popular phenomenon for astrology heads. It was a phase that included her understand major truths, work-wise and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “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…”
Humble Origins
Growing up in New England, the star commenced writing and performing stand-up while enrolled in performance at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “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. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott seized control, appearing at open mics with her friend and uploading uproarious (and decidedly) weird online content digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on characters intensely fixated on motherhood; another imagined working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being trapped in a scary movie. By chance, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and ended up starring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a religious event with shades of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her career, she notes, has been contemporaries supporting her, as opposed to the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, adding with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Anyone who were skeptical regarding her previously will likely be kicking themselves currently. Through she describes as a “astonishingly complete” story, she has created an ideal role. In 2019 she shared a clip called “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a show about LA residents balancing the perks of digital stardom (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being accused of being a intoxicated thief, and possibly becoming a unreliable pariah). It would be simple to create a show about online fame that was extremely idealized—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at the characters. I Love LA avoids both, making for a depiction of privileged millennial living that’s candid about the grot and the glamour.
Empathetic Approach
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
