Rachel Sennott appears on the digital interview and at once starts an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, seeming truly remorseful. Although she's only a bit delayed, she needs to explain. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, in this context, this is just what you want to encounter. Additionally, it’s pretty expected. Anyone familiar with her boldly queer and outspoken movie Bottoms—that she penned with her creative partner and appeared in together with her friend The Bear’s standout—would already know that Sennott has plenty to discuss, be it about gender, intimacy, or the appeal of creating a high-school fight club. Plus, by the end the new eight-part show I Love LA, it is clear that she carries even more insights on the struggles of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, she represents an honorary member of the gang, on the cusp skilled for straddling different age groups).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and the actress is a fan, naming the show in addition to Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for I Love LA, which details the journey of a social media star Tallulah and close companion who is also aspiring representative portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the biggest spot on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, the show depicting a rising Hollywood star succeeding in an often-seedy entertainment industry (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it throughout the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and decided 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 says. The inspiration for this project emerged—to some extent—from firsthand, originally rocky, relocation to LA and from her cosmic event, a popular phenomenon for followers. That period marked an era that involved her grasp some big life lessons, professionally and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in the East Coast, the star commenced writing and performing comedy while studying theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” 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. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She took matters into her own hands, performing at amateur nights with her friend and posting hilarious (and distinctly) unconventional comedy videos on the internet. One, Baby Cult, followed a group of women intensely obsessed with pregnancy; another imagined being employed at a trendy retail outlet as like being stuck in a horror film. By chance, she encountered Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ended up appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her career, she notes, has been peers offering opportunities, instead of traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, stating amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who questioned about Sennott earlier will likely be kicking themselves currently. As part of she labels a “incredibly circular” story, she seems to have achieved her dream vehicle. Previously she posted a clip called on LA life on the internet, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a series about city dwellers balancing the perks of digital stardom (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being suspected of being a substance-abusing criminal, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). Some could easy to produce a program about digital influence that was horribly glamorous—or, worse, one that belittled at the characters. The series does neither, creating a depiction of affluent twentysomething life that’s honest 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 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
