Rachel Sennott enters the digital interview and immediately starts an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, seeming genuinely regretful. Although she's only a bit delayed, she wants to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, during an interview, this is precisely what you want to encounter. Additionally, it’s quite predictable. Those familiar with the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass film titled Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with the director and starred in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—will understand that Sennott has a lot to share, be it on identity, sex, or the pros of starting a youth fight club. And, after watching her recent seasonal show titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she holds additional perspectives about the darker side of modern youth (At 30, she is a bridge to younger audiences, straddling eras with a knack for bridging different age groups).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and Sennott admits to being an admirer, referencing the show in addition to the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as guides for her series, which follows the struggles of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and aspiring representative Sennott’s character. However, the biggest presence on creative vision belonged to the popular sitcom, that HBO sitcom depicting a rising A-list actor making his way in a corrupt LA scene (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott discovered it amid the pandemic, became “hooked”, and decided to create a new version on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she explains. The inspiration for this project originated—to some extent—from her own, at first rocky, transition to LA and from her cosmic event, a much-talked-about phenomenon for enthusiasts. That period marked an era that involved her understand significant life lessons, work-wise and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in Connecticut, Sennott began developing and showcasing stand-up while pursuing performance at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “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, taking the stage at amateur nights with her friend and uploading uproarious (and decidedly) weird skits on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed characters obsessively fixated on pregnancy; another portrayed being employed at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being trapped in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Emma through NYU’s movie community and ultimately starring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a religious event with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her path, she notes, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, instead of the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, adding with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who were skeptical about Sennott then will certainly be kicking themselves today. Through she calls a “incredibly circular” story, she appears to achieved the perfect project. Previously she shared content named about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she lampooned film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about city dwellers balancing advantages of digital stardom (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a intoxicated criminal, and possibly becoming a risky pariah). It would be simple to make a program about digital influence that was horribly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that belittled at those depicted. I Love LA steers clear of each, making for a portrait of privileged millennial life that’s frank about the chaos and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” she observes. “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
