Rachel Sennott appears on the digital interview and at once begins an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, seeming genuinely 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!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s precisely what you want to hear. Additionally, it’s quite expected. Those who have seen her boldly openly gay and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—that she penned with her creative partner and starred in alongside close companion The Bear’s standout—would be aware that Sennott possesses plenty to share, ranging from on identity, sex, or the merits of starting a teen fight club. Plus, after watching the new multi-episode program I Love LA, viewers realize that she has additional insights on the struggles of young adulthood (At 30, Sennott is an honorary member to younger audiences, straddling eras with a knack for straddling different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and Sennott readily acknowledges an admirer, referencing the show alongside the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for I Love LA, which details the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also new talent manager portrayed by Sennott. However, the most significant spot on the moodboard went to the HBO series, the show depicting an emerging Hollywood star navigating in an often-seedy entertainment industry (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it during COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and resolved to put her own twist on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she notes. The inspiration for the series emerged—partly—from firsthand, originally fractious, transition to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a frequently discussed phenomenon for enthusiasts. This represented an era that included her learn some big life lessons, in her career and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Early Beginnings
Brought up in Connecticut, Sennott started creating and acting humor while enrolled in theatre at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “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.”
Sennott decided to act independently, performing at amateur nights with Edebiri and posting hysterical (and very) bizarre skits on the internet. One, Baby Cult, depicted characters obsessively fixated on pregnancy; a different one portrayed being employed at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being trapped in a thriller. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately starring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her career, she says, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, rather than the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she repeats, continuing humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who had doubts about Sennott then will certainly be kicking themselves now. Through she calls a “wild, full-circle” development, she appears to created the perfect project. A few years back she posted a video called “it’s LA” on social media, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a show about city dwellers managing the perks of digital stardom (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being accused of being a drug-addled thief, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). One might tempting to make a series about internet celebrity that was extremely aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at those depicted. I Love LA does neither, making for a portrait of advantaged twentysomething living that’s honest about the chaos and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” she comments. “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
