Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and immediately starts an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, sounding genuinely apologetic. She is only slightly delayed, she wants to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, in this context, this is exactly what one hopes to encounter. Additionally, it’s quite unsurprising. Those familiar with the fearlessly openly gay and outspoken film titled Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and featured in alongside collaborator The Bear’s standout—would be aware that she possesses much to say, ranging from about gender, intimacy, or the merits of starting a youth combat group. And, by the end her recent seasonal HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has further thoughts about the darker side of Gen Z life (As a millennial, Sennott is a relatable figure of the gang, a tale-end millennial adept for connecting both generations).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being an admirer, naming it together with the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as guides for I Love LA, which tracks the travails of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and fledgling agent portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the most significant presence on the moodboard went to Entourage, that program focusing on a rising A-list actor making his way in an often-seedy entertainment industry (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it amid lockdown, became “captivated”, and chose to put her own twist 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 notes. The concept for I Love LA came—partly—from firsthand, originally difficult, relocation to LA and from the astrological phase, a much-talked-about event for enthusiasts. That period marked a phase that involved her learn significant insights, work-wise and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in Connecticut, the star started writing and performing humor while studying acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she states. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. 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?”
She seized control, taking the stage at amateur nights with Ayo and uploading uproarious (and decidedly) weird online content online. One, Baby Cult, followed a group of women obsessively fixated on having babies; another envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as like being trapped in a thriller. By chance, she encountered Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately appearing in her first film, Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a Jewish wake with hints of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her path, she notes, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, rather than established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, adding with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who had doubts regarding her earlier will surely be feeling foolish currently. In what she describes as a “astonishingly complete” story, she has achieved the perfect project. In 2019 she uploaded a clip named on LA life on the internet, in which she lampooned film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a comedy about LA residents managing benefits of internet fame (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your client being labeled as being a intoxicated stealer, and perhaps becoming a unreliable persona non grata). It would be tempting to make a show about digital influence that was overly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that belittled at those depicted. The series steers clear of each, making for a portrait of affluent millennial life that’s candid about the grot and the shine.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” she observes. “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
