🔗 Share this article

Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and at once launches into an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, appearing really regretful. She is only slightly late, she needs to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, during an interview, that’s exactly what is ideal to experience. Besides, it’s quite expected. Those who know the boldly queer and outspoken film titled Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with her creative partner and starred in together with collaborator The Bear’s standout—would understand that she possesses much to share, whether about identity, intimacy, or the pros of forming a youth brawl society. Furthermore, after watching her new seasonal HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that she holds even more perspectives about the struggles of young adulthood (As a millennial, she serves as an honorary member of the gang, on the cusp adept for bridging millennials and Gen Z).

Influences and Creative Vision

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and the actress is a fan, citing the show together with the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as guides for I Love LA, which details the travails of online personality Tallulah and ally and new agent Sennott’s character. Notably, the largest spot on the moodboard went to the HBO series, the HBO sitcom about an emerging Hollywood star making his way in an often-seedy entertainment industry (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She discovered it amid the pandemic, became “captivated”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.

“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The concept for this project originated—in part—from personal, at first fractious, transition to Los Angeles and from the astrological phase, a much-talked-about occurrence for followers. This represented a phase that involved her understand major life lessons, professionally and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” 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

Growing up in New England, Sennott began writing and performing humor while enrolled in acting at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “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.”

She took matters into her own hands, appearing at live shows with Ayo and posting uproarious (and decidedly) weird comedy videos digitally. One, Baby Cult, depicted characters intensely obsessed with motherhood; another imagined being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being caught in a scary movie. By chance, she connected with Seligman through NYU’s movie community and eventually featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a funeral gathering with echoes of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her journey, she explains, has been peers offering opportunities, instead of established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, continuing humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Rising Success

Anyone who questioned regarding her then will surely be feeling foolish currently. In what she labels a “wild, full-circle” development, she appears to manifested her dream vehicle. In 2019 she shared content named on LA life on the internet, in which she parodied film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a show about Angelenos managing advantages of digital stardom (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being accused of being a substance-abusing thief, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). It would be tempting to create a show about online fame that was horribly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that mocked at its subjects. I Love LA does neither, making for a representation of privileged twentysomething life that’s candid about the mess and the shine.

Empathetic Approach

“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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