Rachel Sennott enters the video call and right away launches into an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, appearing genuinely apologetic. Although she's only slightly delayed, she feels compelled to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, for a writer, this is exactly what one hopes to experience. Additionally, it’s quite unsurprising. Viewers who know the boldly openly gay and brash film Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with the director and appeared in together with close companion The Bear’s standout—would be aware that Sennott holds much to discuss, be it on roles, relationships, or the appeal of starting a teen combat group. Furthermore, after watching the latest seasonal program I Love LA, viewers realize that the star has further insights on the darker side of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott is an honorary member of the gang, straddling eras with a knack for straddling both generations).
Influences and Creative Vision
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and the actress is enthusiastic, referencing the show in addition to Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as inspirations for I Love LA, which details the travails of an influencer Tallulah and her friend who is also fledgling agent Maia. Notably, the largest spot on creative vision belonged to the popular sitcom, that program about a rising Hollywood star succeeding in an often-seedy LA scene (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She began viewing it during the pandemic, became “hooked”, and resolved to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she explains. The inspiration for I Love LA originated—to some extent—from her own, originally fractious, relocation to LA and from the saturn return, a popular event for enthusiasts. It was a phase that involved her understand significant truths, in her career and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “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
Brought up in New England, the star began creating and acting humor while enrolled in theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” 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 took matters into her own hands, appearing at live shows with her friend and posting hilarious (and distinctly) unconventional comedy videos online. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on a group of women intensely drawn to pregnancy; another portrayed being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being stuck in a thriller. By chance, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and ultimately featuring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her career, she says, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, instead of the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, continuing humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who questioned about Sennott earlier will surely be regretting it now. Through she describes as a “wild, full-circle” development, she appears to created the perfect project. A few years back she posted a video titled about Los Angeles on social media, in which she parodied movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a show about LA residents managing the perks of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your associate being labeled as being a substance-abusing stealer, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). Some could simple to produce a show about online fame that was extremely aspirational—or, worse, one that punched down at the characters. This show does neither, making for a depiction of advantaged millennial living that’s frank about the grot and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” she says. “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
