Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and immediately launches into an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, seeming genuinely regretful. Despite being only slightly behind, she wants to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, during an interview, this is just what you want to encounter. Besides, it’s pretty expected. Those familiar with her fearlessly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—which she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and appeared in with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that she has plenty to share, whether on gender, relationships, or the pros of starting a teen fight club. And, once you finish the latest eight-part HBO series titled I Love LA, viewers realize that the star holds additional perspectives on the darker side of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott represents a relatable figure of the gang, on the cusp skilled for bridging different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and the actress readily acknowledges an admirer, naming the show together with the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as guides for I Love LA, which tracks the journey of online personality Tallulah and ally and fledgling agent Sennott’s character. However, the most significant presence on creative vision belonged to Entourage, the HBO sitcom focusing on a rising Hollywood star succeeding in a corrupt LA scene (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott began viewing it throughout COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and resolved to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The idea for I Love LA came—partly—from her own, originally difficult, transition to Tinseltown and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about phenomenon for astrology heads. That period marked an era that saw her grasp significant insights, professionally and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Starting Out
Brought up in Connecticut, the star started developing and showcasing comedy while pursuing theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at open mics with Ayo and sharing uproarious (and very) bizarre comedy videos online. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on several females obsessively obsessed with having babies; another envisioned being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being caught in a horror film. By chance, she encountered Seligman through campus film circles and ended up featuring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her path, she says, has been people her own age supporting her, as opposed to established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she repeats, stating humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who had doubts about Sennott then will likely be kicking themselves currently. In what she describes as a “wild, full-circle” development, she has achieved an ideal role. Previously she posted content titled “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she parodied film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a series about city dwellers balancing benefits of digital stardom (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being labeled as being a substance-abusing stealer, and perhaps becoming a risky outcast). Some could easy to make a series about digital influence that was horribly idealized—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at those depicted. This show does neither, creating a depiction of privileged twentysomething existence that’s frank about the mess and the glamour.
Balanced Perspective
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
