Rachel Sennott joins the video call and immediately begins an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, appearing truly remorseful. She is only a bit 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!” Fortunately, during an interview, that’s exactly what one hopes to encounter. Moreover, it’s quite unsurprising. Those who know her fearlessly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass movie Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and featured in with close companion the talented actress—can be aware that Sennott holds plenty to discuss, whether on identity, sex, or the pros of starting a high-school brawl society. Furthermore, by the end her new multi-episode show titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries even more perspectives regarding the struggles of young adulthood (At 30, Sennott represents a bridge for this generation, a tale-end millennial adept for straddling different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
Parallels to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott is enthusiastic, naming the show alongside Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as guides for her series, which tracks the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and fledgling agent Sennott’s character. Notably, the biggest presence on creative vision went to the HBO series, that program about a rising celebrity making his way in a corrupt entertainment industry (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it throughout lockdown, became “obsessed”, 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 says. The idea for I Love LA came—in part—from her own, initially rocky, relocation to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about phenomenon for followers. It was an era that included her grasp some big insights, professionally and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Humble Origins
Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott commenced writing and performing comedy while enrolled in theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” 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. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She took matters into her own hands, performing at live shows with Edebiri and uploading uproarious (and very) bizarre skits digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on a group of women fetishistically obsessed with pregnancy; a different one envisioned being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being stuck in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Seligman through NYU’s movie community and eventually featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a religious event with shades of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been peers supporting her, rather than the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, stating amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who were skeptical about Sennott earlier will certainly be feeling foolish today. Through she labels a “astonishingly complete” development, she seems to have achieved her dream vehicle. In 2019 she posted a video named “it’s LA” online, in which she mocked movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about city dwellers managing advantages of digital stardom (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your client being labeled as being a drug-addled thief, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). Some could simple to create a show about internet celebrity that was overly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that punched down at its subjects. I Love LA does neither, resulting in a portrait of affluent twentysomething life that’s honest about the grot and the appeal.
Balanced Perspective
“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
