Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and immediately launches into an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, appearing truly remorseful. Despite being only a bit behind, she needs to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, for a writer, this is just what one hopes to hear. Besides, it’s fairly expected. Those familiar with her fearlessly queer and brash film titled Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with the director and featured in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—would already know that she has plenty to discuss, ranging from on gender, sex, or the appeal of forming a youth fight club. And, after watching her new eight-part show I Love LA, it is clear that she holds additional insights on the darker side of modern youth (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as a bridge of the gang, a tale-end millennial skilled for bridging different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and Sennott readily acknowledges an admirer, naming the show alongside the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as guides for the project, which details the journey of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also new talent manager Maia. Notably, the most significant influence on concept was reserved for Entourage, that program depicting an emerging A-list actor making his way in a gritty Hollywood (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it throughout lockdown, became “hooked”, and decided 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 says. The concept for this project came—to some extent—from her own, at first difficult, transition to LA and from the saturn return, a frequently discussed occurrence for enthusiasts. This represented a time that saw her grasp significant truths, 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 was almost like these biblical tests …”
Starting Out
Raised in Connecticut, the star started writing and performing comedy while pursuing theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she states. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She took matters into her own hands, appearing at live shows with Ayo and posting uproarious (and very) weird skits online. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed a group of women obsessively drawn to motherhood; a different one portrayed working at a trendy retail outlet as like being caught in a thriller. By chance, she connected with Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ultimately featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a religious event with echoes of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, as opposed to the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, stating amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Those who had doubts about Sennott earlier will likely be regretting it currently. In what she labels a “incredibly circular” story, she has manifested the perfect project. A few years back she uploaded content called on LA life on the internet, in which she lampooned film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a comedy about city dwellers managing advantages of internet fame (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being suspected of being a drug-addled criminal, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). Some could simple to produce a program about online fame that was overly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at its subjects. I Love LA steers clear of each, making for a depiction of affluent millennial living that’s frank about the chaos 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
