Rachel Sennott joins the video call and at once begins an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, appearing genuinely apologetic. Despite being only a bit late, she feels compelled to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s just what one hopes to experience. Moreover, it’s fairly unsurprising. Viewers who have seen her fearlessly LGBTQ+ and brash movie Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with the director and appeared in together with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that she has a lot to share, ranging from about identity, relationships, or the appeal of starting a teen fight club. And, once you finish the new eight-part HBO series titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star holds even more perspectives on the struggles of young adulthood (As a millennial, she represents a relatable figure of the gang, straddling eras skilled for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges an admirer, referencing it alongside the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as inspirations for I Love LA, which details the struggles of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and fledgling agent portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the most significant spot on the moodboard was reserved for the popular sitcom, the show focusing on a rising Hollywood star making his way in an often-seedy entertainment industry (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She discovered it amid lockdown, became “captivated”, and decided to put her own twist 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 idea for the series emerged—to some extent—from firsthand, at first rocky, relocation to LA and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about occurrence for astrology heads. It was a phase that saw her understand major life lessons, work-wise and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Early Beginnings
Brought up in the East Coast, the star began 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 explains. “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. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She decided to act independently, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and uploading uproarious (and distinctly) weird skits online. One, Baby Cult, followed several females obsessively drawn to pregnancy; a different one imagined being employed at a trendy retail outlet as like being trapped in a thriller. By chance, she met Seligman through campus film circles and eventually featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a Jewish wake with hints of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her career, she notes, has been peers offering opportunities, rather than traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, continuing amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who were skeptical regarding Sennott earlier will surely be kicking themselves currently. Through she labels a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she seems to have created an ideal role. A few years back she uploaded a clip titled “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she parodied movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a comedy about city dwellers balancing benefits of digital stardom (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your associate being labeled as being a drug-addled stealer, and potentially becoming a risky persona non grata). One might easy to make a program about online fame that was overly idealized—or, more problematic, one that belittled at its subjects. I Love LA avoids both, making for a representation of privileged twentysomething life that’s honest about the mess and the shine.
Nuanced Portrayal
“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
