Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and right away begins an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, appearing genuinely apologetic. Despite being only slightly delayed, she feels compelled to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, during an interview, this is precisely what one hopes to encounter. Besides, it’s pretty expected. Viewers familiar with the fearlessly queer and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—that she co-wrote with Emma Seligman and appeared in with collaborator the talented actress—can understand that she has much to discuss, ranging from on gender, relationships, or the appeal of forming a teen brawl society. Furthermore, by the end her recent eight-part program titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star has even more insights regarding the challenges of modern youth (At 30, she represents an honorary member for this generation, straddling eras skilled for straddling both generations).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges enthusiastic, referencing it together with 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 new agent Maia. Perhaps, the largest influence on creative vision went to the popular sitcom, the program focusing on an up-and-coming Hollywood star succeeding in a gritty entertainment industry (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it throughout the pandemic, became “hooked”, and chose to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she notes. The inspiration for I Love LA originated—partly—from her own, initially difficult, relocation to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a popular phenomenon for astrology heads. This represented a phase that saw her understand significant life lessons, work-wise and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in the East Coast, the star commenced writing and performing stand-up while enrolled in acting at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “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.”
She seized control, appearing at live shows with Ayo and uploading hilarious (and distinctly) bizarre skits online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on several females fetishistically fixated on motherhood; another portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being stuck in a scary movie. Interestingly, she connected with Seligman through campus film circles and eventually featuring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her career, she explains, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, rather than the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, adding with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who were skeptical about Sennott earlier will certainly be regretting it now. As part of she calls a “incredibly circular” development, she appears to manifested an ideal role. Previously she shared a clip titled about Los Angeles online, in which she mocked film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a comedy about LA residents balancing the perks of internet fame (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being labeled as being a intoxicated criminal, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). One might tempting to make a program about digital influence that was overly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at the characters. This show does neither, creating a depiction of privileged twentysomething living that’s candid about the grot 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
