Rachel Sennott joins the video call and right away begins an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, appearing genuinely remorseful. She is only a bit behind, she wants to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, in this context, that’s exactly what is ideal to experience. Moreover, it’s fairly unsurprising. Anyone familiar with her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and brash film titled Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with Emma Seligman and featured in alongside close companion The Bear’s standout—will be aware that she possesses a lot to share, be it on identity, intimacy, or the pros of starting a youth brawl society. And, by the end her new eight-part program I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has further insights regarding the darker side of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, Sennott represents a bridge to younger audiences, on the cusp skilled for straddling different age groups).
Influences and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and Sennott readily acknowledges enthusiastic, naming it in addition to the HBO hit, Insecure and Atlanta as influences for the project, which follows the journey of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also new representative portrayed by Sennott. However, the biggest spot on concept was reserved for Entourage, the show focusing on an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt Hollywood (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it amid lockdown, became “captivated”, and decided 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 notes. The inspiration for this project originated—in part—from firsthand, initially fractious, move to LA and from her astrological phase, a frequently discussed occurrence for followers. It was a time that involved her learn significant life lessons, in her career 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 …”
Humble Origins
Growing up in New England, Sennott commenced writing and performing humor while enrolled in performance at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at live shows with her friend and sharing uproarious (and very) unconventional comedy videos digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted characters obsessively drawn to motherhood; another portrayed being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being trapped in a scary movie. Interestingly, she met Emma through campus film circles and ended up appearing in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a Jewish wake with hints of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her path, she says, has been contemporaries supporting her, rather than traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she repeats, stating amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who were skeptical about her previously will likely be feeling foolish currently. In what she labels a “astonishingly complete” development, she has created an ideal role. A few years back she posted a video called about Los Angeles on social media, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a comedy about Angelenos balancing the perks of digital stardom (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being labeled as being a intoxicated thief, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). One might easy to produce a series about digital influence that was overly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that belittled at its subjects. The series does neither, creating a representation of privileged twentysomething life that’s candid about the mess and the glamour.
Empathetic Approach
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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
