Rachel Sennott joins the video call and immediately launches into an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, appearing really remorseful. She is only a couple of minutes late, she needs to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, during an interview, that’s exactly what is ideal to encounter. Additionally, it’s fairly predictable. Those who have seen the fearlessly queer and brash movie titled Bottoms—which she penned with her creative partner and starred in alongside collaborator Ayo Edebiri—can be aware that she possesses a lot to share, whether on identity, intimacy, or the pros of creating a youth fight club. And, after watching her latest multi-episode show titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she holds even more perspectives regarding the challenges of modern youth (At 30, Sennott serves as a bridge for this generation, a tale-end millennial with a knack for bridging different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and the actress is an admirer, citing the show in addition to the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as influences for I Love LA, which details the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also aspiring representative Sennott’s character. However, the largest spot on the moodboard was reserved for the popular sitcom, that show about a rising Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt LA scene (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She started watching it throughout the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and decided to add a fresh perspective on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“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 emerged—partly—from her own, initially rocky, move to Los Angeles and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed event for followers. This represented a time that involved her learn significant insights, work-wise and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott began writing and performing comedy while pursuing theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” 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 decided to act independently, taking the stage at open mics with Edebiri and sharing hilarious (and very) unconventional skits digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted a group of women obsessively drawn to motherhood; another imagined being employed at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being trapped in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately starring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her career, she notes, has been peers supporting her, as opposed to traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, stating amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who had doubts about her then will certainly be regretting it now. Through she labels a “incredibly circular” story, she seems to have achieved the perfect project. A few years back she uploaded a clip called on LA life on the internet, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a series about Angelenos juggling benefits of internet fame (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your associate being labeled as being a substance-abusing criminal, and perhaps becoming a unreliable pariah). One might tempting to make a show about online fame that was extremely idealized—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at its subjects. This show does neither, making for a representation of privileged young adult life that’s candid about the chaos and the shine.
Empathetic Approach
“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
