Rachel Sennott enters the video call and immediately begins an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, sounding really remorseful. She is only slightly delayed, she feels compelled to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s exactly what one hopes to encounter. Additionally, it’s fairly unsurprising. Anyone who know her fearlessly openly gay and outspoken film titled Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with the director and starred in together with her friend Ayo Edebiri—can be aware that Sennott holds much to share, be it on identity, relationships, or the merits of creating a youth fight club. And, once you finish the new eight-part show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star carries additional insights about the struggles of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, she is a bridge for this generation, straddling eras with a knack for bridging both generations).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and the actress is an admirer, naming it in addition to the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as inspirations for I Love LA, which follows the travails of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also aspiring representative portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the biggest spot on creative vision belonged to the popular sitcom, that show depicting a rising Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt Hollywood (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She began viewing it amid the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and chose to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she notes. The inspiration for I Love LA originated—partly—from personal, originally rocky, move to Los Angeles and from the astrological phase, a much-talked-about event for followers. It was an era that involved her learn major insights, professionally and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” 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…”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in Connecticut, Sennott began creating and acting stand-up while studying theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott seized control, performing at amateur nights with Ayo and sharing uproarious (and distinctly) unconventional online content digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted characters intensely obsessed with motherhood; another envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being caught in a thriller. By chance, she met Seligman through the university’s film scene and ended up featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the intense thriller. The big theme of her career, she notes, has been peers giving her a shot, rather than the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, adding amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Rising Success
Individuals who had doubts regarding her earlier will certainly be kicking themselves today. Through she calls a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she seems to have manifested the perfect project. In 2019 she posted a clip titled on LA life on the internet, in which she parodied movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a series about Angelenos juggling the perks of internet fame (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being accused of being a substance-abusing stealer, and perhaps becoming a risky pariah). Some could tempting to create a show about online fame that was horribly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that belittled at the characters. This show steers clear of each, creating a portrait of advantaged millennial existence that’s frank about the mess and the glamour.
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
