Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and right away launches into an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, appearing really regretful. She is only a couple of minutes late, she feels compelled to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, for a writer, that’s just what one hopes to encounter. Additionally, it’s quite predictable. Viewers familiar with the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and outspoken movie Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with her creative partner and appeared in with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—would be aware that Sennott possesses plenty to share, ranging from on identity, sex, or the pros of forming a high-school fight club. And, by the end the latest eight-part program I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star carries additional thoughts about the challenges of Gen Z life (As a millennial, Sennott represents a relatable figure to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial adept for bridging different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, citing the show together with Sex and the City, Insecure and Atlanta as guides for I Love LA, which details the journey of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also new talent manager Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the biggest spot on concept belonged to the HBO series, that HBO sitcom depicting an up-and-coming celebrity succeeding in a gritty entertainment industry (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She discovered it throughout COVID-19, became “hooked”, and decided 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 idea for the series came—partly—from firsthand, at first rocky, move to Tinseltown and from her saturn return, a much-talked-about phenomenon for enthusiasts. That period marked an era that saw her understand significant truths, professionally and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Raised in New England, Sennott began creating and acting comedy while enrolled in acting at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at open mics with Edebiri and sharing uproarious (and distinctly) bizarre online content digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted a group of women intensely fixated on having babies; a different one portrayed working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being caught in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she met Seligman through the university’s film scene and eventually starring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her path, she notes, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, instead of established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, adding humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who were skeptical about her earlier will likely be kicking themselves now. As part of she labels a “astonishingly complete” development, she seems to have manifested the perfect project. Previously she posted content titled “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she parodied movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a show about LA residents balancing benefits of internet fame (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your friend being accused of being a substance-abusing thief, and possibly becoming a risky outcast). It would be easy to produce a show about digital influence that was extremely idealized—or, worse, one that punched down at the characters. The series does neither, making for a depiction of privileged millennial living that’s honest about the mess and the glamour.
Balanced Perspective
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
