Rachel Sennott joins the video call and immediately begins an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, seeming truly apologetic. She is only a couple of minutes behind, she wants 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!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s exactly what is ideal to hear. Moreover, it’s quite unsurprising. Viewers familiar with her boldly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—which she collaborated on with the director and appeared in with close companion Ayo Edebiri—will understand that she possesses plenty to discuss, be it about identity, relationships, or the merits of forming a high-school brawl society. Furthermore, once you finish her latest seasonal HBO series titled I Love LA, viewers realize that the star has further perspectives about the struggles of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as a bridge of the gang, a tale-end millennial adept for bridging different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
Parallels to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, referencing the show in addition to Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as inspirations for the project, which details the journey of a social media star Tallulah and close companion who is also fledgling representative Maia. However, the most significant spot on concept was reserved for Entourage, the HBO sitcom depicting a rising celebrity succeeding in a gritty LA scene (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She started watching it throughout the pandemic, became “captivated”, and decided 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 says. The inspiration for I Love LA emerged—partly—from firsthand, initially fractious, transition to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a popular occurrence for enthusiasts. That period marked a phase that saw her grasp significant life lessons, professionally and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in New England, Sennott began creating and acting humor while pursuing performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She took matters into her own hands, appearing at open mics with Ayo and uploading hilarious (and distinctly) unconventional online content on the internet. One, Baby Cult, followed characters intensely obsessed with motherhood; another portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being trapped in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Emma through NYU’s movie community and ultimately appearing in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a religious event with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her path, she explains, has been peers offering opportunities, rather than established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, continuing with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who had doubts regarding Sennott earlier will surely be kicking themselves now. In what she describes as a “incredibly circular” development, she seems to have achieved an ideal role. A few years back she shared content titled about Los Angeles on social media, in which she lampooned film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a series about Angelenos juggling benefits of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being accused of being a intoxicated thief, and potentially becoming a risky persona non grata). It would be easy to create a program about digital influence that was overly idealized—or, worse, one that mocked at the characters. This show does neither, resulting in a representation of affluent young adult existence that’s candid about the mess and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
