Rachel Sennott joins the digital interview and at once starts an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, appearing genuinely regretful. Although she's only a bit delayed, she feels compelled to justify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, for a writer, this is precisely what is ideal to encounter. Besides, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone who know the boldly openly gay and brash film titled Bottoms—which she co-wrote with her creative partner and featured in with close companion the talented actress—can already know that Sennott has plenty to say, whether on roles, relationships, or the merits of forming a youth brawl society. Furthermore, once you finish her latest seasonal HBO series titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she carries even more perspectives on the darker side of Gen Z life (As a millennial, Sennott is an honorary member to younger audiences, on the cusp with a knack for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being an admirer, referencing it together with the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as guides for I Love LA, which follows the journey of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and new representative Maia. However, the most significant presence on concept belonged to Entourage, the show depicting an emerging Hollywood star navigating in an often-seedy entertainment industry (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott started watching it amid the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and chose to create a new version 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 inspiration for the series originated—to some extent—from her own, originally rocky, move to Los Angeles and from the cosmic event, a frequently discussed occurrence for followers. That period marked a phase that involved her learn some big life lessons, work-wise and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Raised in the East Coast, Sennott began creating and acting humor 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 explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. 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.”
Sennott decided to act independently, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and sharing uproarious (and decidedly) bizarre skits digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women fetishistically obsessed with pregnancy; another envisioned working at the brand Hollister as similar to being trapped in a thriller. By chance, she met Emma through NYU’s movie community and ended up appearing in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a religious event with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her journey, she explains, has been people her own age giving her a shot, rather than established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, adding with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who questioned regarding Sennott then will certainly be feeling foolish now. In what she describes as a “incredibly circular” story, she has achieved an ideal role. A few years back she uploaded content called on LA life on the internet, in which she mocked film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a comedy about LA residents managing the perks of internet fame (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a intoxicated thief, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). Some could tempting to create a program about digital influence that was extremely glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at those depicted. I Love LA does neither, creating a representation of affluent twentysomething living that’s honest about the grot and the shine.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
