Rachel Sennott enters the video call and at once begins an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, seeming really remorseful. Although she's only slightly delayed, she wants to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, in this context, that’s just what you want to experience. Besides, it’s pretty expected. Anyone who know the boldly openly gay and outspoken film titled Bottoms—that she penned with Emma Seligman and featured in together with close companion the talented actress—would already know that Sennott holds plenty to discuss, ranging from on gender, relationships, or the pros of creating a teen fight club. And, after watching the new eight-part show I Love LA, viewers realize that the star has additional thoughts regarding the darker side of modern youth (Now in her thirties, Sennott represents a bridge to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial with a knack for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being an admirer, referencing it alongside Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as inspirations for the project, which tracks the struggles of an influencer Tallulah and ally and aspiring agent portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the biggest spot on creative vision belonged to the HBO series, that show depicting a rising A-list actor making his way in a corrupt Hollywood (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She started watching it throughout COVID-19, became “captivated”, and chose 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 notes. The concept for I Love LA originated—in part—from personal, at first difficult, relocation to Tinseltown and from her astrological phase, a popular phenomenon for astrology heads. It was a phase that saw her grasp major truths, professionally and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “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, the star commenced developing and showcasing stand-up while studying performance at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “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.”
Sennott decided to act independently, taking the stage at open mics with Edebiri and uploading hilarious (and very) unconventional comedy videos digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, followed characters obsessively drawn to pregnancy; another envisioned working at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being caught in a scary movie. Interestingly, she met Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ultimately featuring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a funeral gathering with echoes of the intense thriller. The central motif of her journey, she says, has been people her own age offering opportunities, as opposed to the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she confirms, adding amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who had doubts regarding Sennott then will certainly be kicking themselves currently. In what she calls a “astonishingly complete” story, she appears to manifested an ideal role. A few years back she shared a video called “it’s LA” on social media, in which she mocked movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about Angelenos managing the perks of online celebrity (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being labeled as being a intoxicated criminal, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). One might easy to create a program about internet celebrity that was horribly idealized—or, more problematic, one that belittled at its subjects. This show avoids both, resulting in a portrait of advantaged millennial living that’s candid about the chaos and the glamour.
Balanced Perspective
“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
