Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and right away starts an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, seeming genuinely regretful. She is only a couple of minutes delayed, she feels compelled to justify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Fortunately, for a writer, that’s exactly what one hopes to hear. Additionally, it’s pretty predictable. Viewers familiar with the boldly LGBTQ+ and outspoken project titled Bottoms—that she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and featured in together with her friend the talented actress—will be aware that she has much to discuss, whether on gender, relationships, or the pros of forming a teen fight club. And, after watching the new multi-episode program I Love LA, it is clear that she holds even more thoughts about the challenges of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, she represents a bridge for this generation, straddling eras adept for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Creative Vision
Parallels to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is an admirer, referencing the show in addition to Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as inspirations for the project, which tracks the journey of a social media star Tallulah and ally and aspiring representative Sennott’s character. However, the most significant influence on creative vision belonged to the popular sitcom, that program about an emerging celebrity navigating in a corrupt entertainment industry (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott began viewing it during COVID-19, became “hooked”, 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 inspiration for this project came—partly—from firsthand, at first fractious, transition to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a much-talked-about phenomenon for followers. That period marked an era that involved her learn significant life lessons, work-wise and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Raised in New England, the star commenced developing and showcasing humor while pursuing performance at NYU’s Tisch. “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. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She decided to act independently, appearing at open mics with Edebiri and sharing hilarious (and decidedly) bizarre online content online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted a group of women intensely fixated on pregnancy; a different one imagined being employed at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being stuck in a thriller. By chance, she connected with Emma through NYU’s movie community and eventually starring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a religious event with shades of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her career, she notes, has been people her own age giving her a shot, rather than established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, continuing with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who had doubts regarding her earlier will surely be feeling foolish today. Through she calls a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she has achieved the perfect project. In 2019 she posted a clip titled about Los Angeles online, in which she parodied film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a comedy about Angelenos managing benefits of internet fame (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being labeled as being a drug-addled stealer, and potentially becoming a unreliable outcast). One might easy to produce a series about internet celebrity that was horribly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA avoids both, creating a depiction of privileged twentysomething living that’s candid about the grot and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“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
