🔗 Share this article

Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and immediately begins an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, sounding truly remorseful. Despite being only a couple of minutes late, she needs to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, for a writer, this is just what one hopes to hear. Additionally, it’s fairly predictable. Those who know her boldly queer and unapologetically crass film titled Bottoms—that she collaborated on with the director and appeared in together with her friend The Bear’s standout—will be aware that Sennott holds a lot to say, whether about roles, intimacy, or the pros of creating a teen brawl society. And, by the end the recent eight-part HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries additional perspectives on the struggles of young adulthood (At 30, Sennott serves as a relatable figure to younger audiences, straddling eras skilled for bridging millennials and Gen Z).

Influences and Storytelling Approach

The comparisons to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, naming the show together with Sex and the City, Insecure and the innovative program as influences for her series, which tracks the journey of an influencer Tallulah and ally who is also new talent manager Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the biggest presence on creative vision went to the HBO series, that show about an up-and-coming celebrity making his way in a corrupt LA scene (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it during the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and chose to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.

“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—to some extent—from firsthand, originally fractious, move to Tinseltown and from her saturn return, a popular phenomenon for enthusiasts. That period marked an era that saw her understand major truths, work-wise and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”

Humble Origins

Brought up in the East Coast, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing humor while enrolled in theatre 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 says. “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. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”

She seized control, taking the stage at open mics with Edebiri and sharing hilarious (and very) weird online content online. One, titled Baby Cult, centered on several females obsessively obsessed with pregnancy; another imagined working at the brand Hollister as similar to being trapped in a scary movie. By chance, she connected with Seligman through the university’s film scene and ultimately starring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her path, she notes, has been people her own age giving her a shot, as opposed to the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, stating humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Manifesting Dreams

Anyone who had doubts about Sennott previously will certainly be feeling foolish currently. As part of she calls a “astonishingly complete” story, she appears to achieved her dream vehicle. A few years back she posted content titled “it’s LA” online, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a comedy about LA residents balancing benefits of online celebrity (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your client being accused of being a substance-abusing thief, and possibly becoming a risky outcast). It would be easy to produce a program about online fame that was overly aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at those depicted. This show does neither, creating a portrait of advantaged young adult existence that’s candid about the grot and the glamour.

Empathetic Approach

“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