Rachel Sennott enters the video call and immediately launches into an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, sounding genuinely remorseful. Despite being only slightly delayed, she feels compelled to explain. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, during an interview, this is just what you want to experience. Moreover, it’s fairly expected. Those who have seen her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass movie Bottoms—which Sennott penned with her creative partner and featured in together with her friend Ayo Edebiri—will understand that she possesses plenty to discuss, be it about roles, relationships, or the appeal of starting a high-school combat group. And, by the end the new multi-episode program titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star has further perspectives regarding the struggles of young adulthood (As a millennial, she is an honorary member for this generation, on the cusp skilled for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and the actress is an admirer, referencing the show together with the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as guides for the project, which details the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and new agent Sennott’s character. However, the most significant influence on creative vision was reserved for Entourage, the program depicting a rising Hollywood star succeeding in a corrupt LA scene (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it throughout lockdown, became “obsessed”, and resolved to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she says. The idea for this project emerged—in part—from her own, at first difficult, relocation to Los Angeles and from the astrological phase, a much-talked-about phenomenon for astrology heads. It was a phase that saw her understand major truths, professionally and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “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…”
Starting Out
Raised in New England, Sennott commenced creating and acting stand-up while enrolled in acting at NYU’s Tisch. “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. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She decided to act independently, performing at amateur nights with her friend and sharing hilarious (and very) weird comedy videos online. One, Baby Cult, depicted several females obsessively drawn to having babies; another portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being trapped in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately featuring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her career, she says, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, rather than established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, adding with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Rising Success
Those who had doubts about her previously will likely be feeling foolish now. Through she describes as a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she appears to manifested the perfect project. Previously she uploaded content called on LA life 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 series about Angelenos managing advantages of internet fame (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your client being labeled as being a drug-addled stealer, and perhaps becoming a unreliable outcast). One might simple to create a program about digital influence that was extremely aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at its subjects. This show steers clear of each, creating a representation of advantaged millennial life that’s frank about the chaos and the appeal.
Empathetic Approach
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
