Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and right away launches into an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, seeming truly regretful. Although she's only slightly delayed, she wants to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, in this context, that’s exactly what you want to hear. Besides, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone who know the boldly queer and unapologetically crass project Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with the director and starred in with her friend Ayo Edebiri—would be aware that Sennott possesses plenty to share, be it about identity, intimacy, or the pros of creating a teen brawl society. Furthermore, once you finish the latest multi-episode show I Love LA, viewers realize that she has further insights regarding the darker side of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as a bridge of the gang, on the cusp with a knack for bridging both generations).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges a fan, referencing it alongside the HBO hit, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as guides for her series, which tracks the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also new representative portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the most significant influence on the moodboard belonged to the popular sitcom, the program focusing on an up-and-coming celebrity navigating in a corrupt LA scene (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott discovered it throughout lockdown, 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 explains. The concept for I Love LA originated—in part—from personal, at first difficult, relocation to LA and from her cosmic event, a popular phenomenon for enthusiasts. That period marked a phase that involved her understand some big insights, work-wise and in private life. “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 …”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in New England, the star started developing and showcasing humor while enrolled in performance at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” 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.”
She seized control, performing at amateur nights with her friend and posting uproarious (and very) unconventional online content on the internet. One, Baby Cult, centered on a group of women intensely fixated on motherhood; another envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being stuck in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Emma through NYU’s movie community and ended up featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a funeral gathering with echoes of the intense thriller. The big theme of her path, she explains, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, rather than traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, adding amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who were skeptical about Sennott earlier will likely be feeling foolish currently. In what she describes as a “incredibly circular” story, she has achieved an ideal role. Previously she posted a video titled on LA life on the internet, in which she parodied movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a comedy about Angelenos juggling benefits of online celebrity (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being labeled as being a intoxicated criminal, and potentially becoming a unreliable outcast). It would be tempting to produce a series about internet celebrity that was extremely aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at its subjects. The series avoids both, resulting in a representation of advantaged twentysomething life that’s honest about the grot and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
