Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and right away starts an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, seeming genuinely regretful. Despite being only slightly behind, she feels compelled to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, for a writer, this is precisely what one hopes to hear. Moreover, it’s fairly expected. Viewers who know the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and brash movie titled Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with the director and starred in with her friend The Bear’s standout—will already know that she has a lot to say, be it on identity, sex, or the merits of forming a teen fight club. And, once you finish her recent eight-part program titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries additional perspectives on the struggles of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, she represents an honorary member for this generation, a tale-end millennial adept for bridging both generations).
Influences and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and the actress readily acknowledges enthusiastic, naming the show alongside Sex and the City, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as influences for her series, which details the journey of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and new agent portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the biggest influence on concept belonged to the popular sitcom, the show about an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in a gritty Hollywood (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it throughout COVID-19, became “hooked”, and resolved 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 explains. The concept for this project originated—in part—from personal, initially rocky, transition to Tinseltown and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about event for enthusiasts. It was an era that involved her grasp significant truths, work-wise and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “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 the East Coast, Sennott commenced creating and acting stand-up while studying 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. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She decided to act independently, appearing at amateur nights with Edebiri and uploading hilarious (and distinctly) weird comedy videos digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted several females fetishistically obsessed with having babies; a different one envisioned being employed at the brand Hollister as like being caught in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and eventually starring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a religious event with echoes of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her career, she notes, has been people her own age offering opportunities, as opposed to traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, adding humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who questioned about her earlier will certainly be feeling foolish currently. As part of she describes as a “astonishingly complete” story, she has manifested the perfect project. Previously she shared content named “it’s LA” on social media, in which she lampooned movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a series about city dwellers managing advantages of internet fame (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being accused of being a intoxicated thief, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). Some could simple to make a show about digital influence that was horribly idealized—or, worse, one that mocked at those depicted. I Love LA avoids both, creating a portrait of privileged millennial living that’s candid about the mess and the glamour.
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
