Rachel Sennott appears on the digital interview and right away launches into an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, appearing truly remorseful. Despite being only a bit delayed, she feels compelled to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, for a writer, this is exactly what is ideal to experience. Additionally, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone who know the unapologetically openly gay and outspoken movie titled Bottoms—that she co-wrote with Emma Seligman and featured in together with close companion Ayo Edebiri—will already know that she has much to share, ranging from about roles, intimacy, or the merits of forming a youth brawl society. Plus, by the end the recent multi-episode program I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she holds further thoughts regarding the darker side of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she serves as a bridge of the gang, on the cusp with a knack for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
Parallels to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott is an admirer, referencing it alongside Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as inspirations for the project, which follows the travails of an influencer Tallulah and ally who is also new talent manager Maia. Perhaps, the largest spot on creative vision was reserved for Entourage, that show depicting an emerging A-list actor navigating in an often-seedy Hollywood (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She began viewing it during COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and resolved to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The concept for the series came—partly—from personal, initially difficult, relocation to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a frequently discussed phenomenon for enthusiasts. That period marked a phase that involved her grasp significant truths, in her career and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Starting Out
Brought up in Connecticut, Sennott started developing and showcasing stand-up while enrolled in acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at live shows with Ayo and posting hilarious (and decidedly) unconventional skits online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women obsessively obsessed with pregnancy; another envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being trapped in a horror film. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through NYU’s movie community and eventually starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a funeral gathering with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her career, she notes, has been people her own age offering opportunities, rather than established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, adding with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who questioned regarding Sennott earlier will likely be kicking themselves currently. As part of she labels a “incredibly circular” development, she seems to have achieved an ideal role. A few years back she uploaded content named “it’s LA” online, in which she lampooned film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a show about LA residents juggling advantages of internet fame (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being accused of being a intoxicated thief, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). One might tempting to create a show about internet celebrity that was horribly idealized—or, worse, one that mocked at the characters. I Love LA does neither, creating a representation of affluent twentysomething life that’s candid about the chaos and the appeal.
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 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
