Rachel Sennott joins the digital interview and at once starts an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, sounding genuinely apologetic. Despite being only a couple of minutes behind, she wants 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!” Thankfully, for a writer, this is precisely what is ideal to hear. Additionally, it’s fairly predictable. Those who know the unapologetically openly gay and unapologetically crass movie Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and featured in with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—can already know that she possesses plenty to discuss, ranging from on identity, sex, or the pros of forming a high-school combat group. And, after watching her new multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she holds further perspectives about the challenges of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, she is a bridge of the gang, straddling eras skilled for bridging different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges enthusiastic, citing it alongside the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as inspirations for I Love LA, which details the travails of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and fledgling talent manager Sennott’s character. However, the biggest spot on concept belonged to the HBO series, that HBO sitcom focusing on an emerging Hollywood star navigating in a gritty entertainment industry (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott discovered it amid the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and resolved 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 explains. The concept for this project emerged—to some extent—from firsthand, initially fractious, relocation to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a frequently discussed occurrence for enthusiasts. It was an era that saw her grasp some big truths, work-wise and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Raised in the East Coast, Sennott began writing and performing stand-up while studying performance at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She decided to act independently, appearing at live shows with her friend and uploading uproarious (and decidedly) bizarre comedy videos online. One, Baby Cult, followed characters fetishistically obsessed with having babies; a different one imagined working at a trendy retail outlet as like being caught in a horror film. Interestingly, she met Seligman through campus film circles and ended up starring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a religious event with echoes of the intense thriller. The big theme of her career, she explains, has been people her own age giving her a shot, as opposed to traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, continuing amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Individuals who questioned regarding her then will likely be regretting it currently. As part of she describes as a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she appears to created an ideal role. A few years back she uploaded a clip titled on LA life on social media, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a show about city dwellers balancing benefits of online celebrity (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a drug-addled criminal, and potentially becoming a risky outcast). Some could simple to make a show about digital influence that was overly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that mocked at its subjects. This show avoids both, making for a depiction of advantaged young adult living that’s candid about the chaos and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
