Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and right away launches into an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, appearing truly regretful. Although she's only a couple of minutes delayed, she feels compelled to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, during an interview, this is just what one hopes to encounter. Additionally, it’s pretty unsurprising. Anyone who have seen the unapologetically openly gay and brash project Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and featured in together with close companion Ayo Edebiri—can already know that Sennott possesses much to say, ranging from on identity, intimacy, or the pros of forming a youth fight club. And, by the end the new seasonal HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has even more perspectives regarding the challenges of modern youth (As a millennial, she serves as an honorary member to younger audiences, on the cusp skilled for bridging different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and Sennott admits to being an admirer, naming the show in addition to the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as inspirations for I Love LA, which details the journey of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and aspiring talent manager portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the biggest influence on concept was reserved for the popular sitcom, the HBO sitcom depicting an up-and-coming A-list actor navigating in an often-seedy Hollywood (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it amid the pandemic, became “captivated”, and chose to put her own twist on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“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 originated—to some extent—from firsthand, at first difficult, transition to Tinseltown and from the cosmic event, a frequently discussed phenomenon for followers. That period marked a phase that involved her learn some big truths, professionally and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Raised in Connecticut, the star started developing and showcasing comedy while studying performance at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She seized control, taking the stage at live shows with Edebiri and posting hysterical (and distinctly) unconventional online content online. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted several females fetishistically drawn to having babies; a different one envisioned working at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being caught in a thriller. Interestingly, she connected with Emma through campus film circles and ended up starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the intense thriller. The central motif of her path, she notes, has been peers offering opportunities, instead of traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, continuing amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who had doubts about her then will certainly be kicking themselves currently. In what she describes as a “wild, full-circle” development, she seems to have manifested an ideal role. Previously she shared a video titled about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she mocked film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a series about LA residents balancing benefits of digital stardom (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being labeled as being a drug-addled thief, and possibly becoming a risky pariah). One might easy to make a series about internet celebrity that was horribly glamorous—or, worse, one that punched down at its subjects. This show does neither, making for a depiction of affluent young adult living that’s frank about the grot and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
