Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and right away starts an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, sounding really apologetic. She is only a couple of minutes delayed, she feels compelled to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, in this context, this is just what you want to hear. Additionally, it’s fairly expected. Viewers who have seen the unapologetically queer and brash film titled Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and appeared in together with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will understand that she holds much to share, whether on identity, intimacy, or the appeal of forming a youth fight club. And, once you finish the new seasonal HBO series I Love LA, viewers realize that she carries even more thoughts about the struggles of modern youth (Now in her thirties, she serves as a relatable figure of the gang, straddling eras adept for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and the actress readily acknowledges enthusiastic, citing the show in addition to the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as influences for I Love LA, which follows the journey of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also new agent Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the largest presence on the moodboard went to the popular sitcom, that HBO sitcom focusing on an up-and-coming Hollywood star succeeding in a gritty entertainment industry (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott started watching it throughout 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 says. The concept for the series originated—to some extent—from her own, at first rocky, move to Tinseltown and from the cosmic event, a much-talked-about occurrence for astrology heads. This represented an era that included her learn significant insights, in her career and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “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…”
Humble Origins
Growing up in Connecticut, the star began creating and acting humor while enrolled in performance at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, appearing at open mics with Ayo and sharing uproarious (and distinctly) bizarre online content online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters fetishistically fixated on pregnancy; a different one envisioned being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being stuck in a scary movie. By chance, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and ultimately starring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been people her own age supporting her, rather than traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, stating amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who questioned about her then will certainly be regretting it now. In what she calls a “astonishingly complete” story, she appears to created the perfect project. In 2019 she posted a clip named about Los Angeles online, in which she lampooned film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a comedy about LA residents managing benefits of digital stardom (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being accused of being a intoxicated thief, and potentially becoming a risky outcast). One might tempting to create a series about internet celebrity that was horribly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at the characters. I Love LA steers clear of each, resulting in a portrait of advantaged millennial life that’s frank about the mess and the shine.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
