Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and at once launches into an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, seeming genuinely regretful. Although she's only a bit late, she needs to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, in this context, that’s precisely what is ideal to experience. Additionally, it’s quite expected. Viewers who know the fearlessly queer and outspoken project Bottoms—that she penned with Emma Seligman and starred in with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will already know that she has a lot to say, be it about gender, relationships, or the merits of forming a youth fight club. Plus, once you finish the recent seasonal program titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds even more perspectives on the struggles of modern youth (As a millennial, Sennott represents a relatable figure of the gang, a tale-end millennial skilled for straddling both generations).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress readily acknowledges an admirer, referencing the show in addition to Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for I Love LA, which tracks the travails of a social media star Tallulah and ally and new talent manager Sennott’s character. Notably, the biggest presence on concept belonged to the HBO series, that show focusing on an emerging Hollywood star navigating in an often-seedy entertainment industry (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott discovered it during COVID-19, became “hooked”, and chose to put her own twist on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she explains. The concept for the series emerged—to some extent—from personal, initially rocky, relocation to LA and from the astrological phase, a popular event for astrology heads. It was a time that involved her understand some big life lessons, work-wise and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Brought up in the East Coast, Sennott started creating and acting comedy while studying acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “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. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott decided to act independently, taking the stage at live shows with Edebiri and uploading uproarious (and very) unconventional online content online. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on several females fetishistically drawn to having babies; a different one portrayed being employed at the brand Hollister as similar to being trapped in a horror film. By chance, she encountered Seligman through NYU’s movie community and eventually starring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a funeral gathering with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been people her own age giving her a shot, rather than established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, continuing humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who were skeptical regarding Sennott earlier will certainly be regretting it today. As part of she calls a “astonishingly complete” story, she seems to have manifested an ideal role. A few years back she posted content named “it’s LA” online, in which she lampooned film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a series about LA residents juggling the perks of internet fame (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your friend being accused of being a substance-abusing stealer, and perhaps becoming a risky persona non grata). Some could easy to produce a series about online fame that was horribly idealized—or, more problematic, one that punched down at its subjects. This show avoids both, making for a representation of privileged millennial existence that’s honest about the grot and the shine.
Nuanced Portrayal
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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
