Rachel Sennott appears on the digital interview and immediately starts an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, seeming really apologetic. Although she's only slightly behind, she needs to justify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, during an interview, that’s just what you want to hear. Besides, it’s quite expected. Anyone who have seen the boldly queer and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—which she collaborated on with her creative partner and appeared in with collaborator the talented actress—would be aware that she has much to discuss, whether on roles, relationships, or the pros of creating a youth fight club. Furthermore, after watching the recent seasonal HBO series titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she carries even more thoughts on the challenges of modern youth (As a millennial, she represents an honorary member to younger audiences, straddling eras skilled for straddling different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott readily acknowledges enthusiastic, citing the show together with Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as guides for I Love LA, which follows the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and fledgling agent portrayed by Sennott. However, the biggest influence on the moodboard belonged to the HBO series, the show focusing on an up-and-coming celebrity succeeding in a corrupt Hollywood (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott started watching it throughout lockdown, became “hooked”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she notes. The inspiration for I Love LA emerged—to some extent—from her own, at first rocky, transition to Tinseltown and from her cosmic event, a much-talked-about event for followers. That period marked an era that involved her understand significant life lessons, in her career and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Starting Out
Brought up in Connecticut, Sennott began developing and showcasing humor while enrolled in acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “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. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott seized control, performing at live shows with Edebiri and uploading hysterical (and decidedly) unconventional online content digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted several females fetishistically obsessed with motherhood; another envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being caught in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she met Seligman through the university’s film scene and ultimately featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her journey, she says, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, adding amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Anyone who had doubts about her previously will surely be kicking themselves today. Through she calls a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she seems to have achieved her dream vehicle. A few years back she shared a video titled about Los Angeles on social media, in which she lampooned film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a series about city dwellers managing benefits of digital stardom (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being suspected of being a substance-abusing stealer, and potentially becoming a risky persona non grata). One might tempting to create a show about internet celebrity that was horribly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA does neither, making for a portrait of advantaged young adult life that’s candid about the mess 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
