Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and at once starts an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, sounding genuinely remorseful. Although she's only a couple of minutes 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!” Luckily, in this context, this is exactly what one hopes to experience. Moreover, it’s quite unsurprising. Viewers who know her unapologetically queer and brash project titled Bottoms—which she co-wrote with the director and starred in with her friend Ayo Edebiri—will already know that she has a lot to share, whether about gender, relationships, or the merits of starting a teen fight club. Furthermore, by the end the new eight-part show I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds additional perspectives about the struggles of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, she serves as a bridge of the gang, straddling eras adept for straddling different age groups).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and Sennott readily acknowledges enthusiastic, referencing the show alongside the HBO hit, Insecure and Atlanta as inspirations for her series, which details the travails of a social media star Tallulah and ally and fledgling talent manager portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the largest spot on the moodboard belonged to the HBO series, that HBO sitcom focusing on an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt entertainment industry (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She started watching it during the pandemic, became “captivated”, and chose to create a new version 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 notes. The concept for this project originated—to some extent—from personal, at first difficult, transition to Tinseltown and from the astrological phase, a popular phenomenon for followers. That period marked an era that involved her learn major life lessons, work-wise and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Early Beginnings
Brought up in New England, Sennott commenced writing and performing stand-up while studying performance at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, appearing at open mics with Ayo and posting hilarious (and decidedly) weird comedy videos digitally. One, Baby Cult, centered on several females obsessively fixated on having babies; another imagined working at a trendy retail outlet as like being caught in a thriller. By chance, she connected with Emma through campus film circles and eventually starring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a religious event with hints of the intense thriller. The big theme of her path, she explains, has been people her own age giving her a shot, rather than established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, continuing amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who questioned regarding Sennott earlier will certainly be kicking themselves currently. As part of she labels a “incredibly circular” story, she appears to achieved her dream vehicle. In 2019 she uploaded a video called on LA life online, in which she lampooned film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about city dwellers managing benefits of internet fame (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being accused of being a drug-addled stealer, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). Some could simple to produce a show about digital influence that was overly aspirational—or, worse, one that belittled at its subjects. The series steers clear of each, resulting in a representation of privileged millennial living that’s honest about the mess and the appeal.
Empathetic Approach
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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
