Rachel Sennott enters the digital interview and immediately starts an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, sounding truly apologetic. Although she's only slightly late, she wants to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, during an interview, that’s precisely what you want to encounter. Besides, it’s quite predictable. Those familiar with the boldly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—which she collaborated on with the director and starred in alongside close companion the talented actress—will be aware that she holds plenty to share, be it on gender, sex, or the merits of starting a high-school combat group. And, once you finish the new multi-episode program titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star holds even more perspectives regarding the challenges of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, she is an honorary member of the gang, on the cusp skilled for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and the actress is enthusiastic, naming the show alongside the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as influences for the project, which tracks the travails of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and new agent portrayed by Sennott. However, the most significant presence on creative vision was reserved for the popular sitcom, the program about an up-and-coming A-list actor navigating in a gritty LA scene (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She began viewing it throughout lockdown, became “captivated”, and chose to add a fresh perspective 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 notes. The idea for the series emerged—in part—from her own, originally fractious, transition to Los Angeles and from the astrological phase, a popular phenomenon for enthusiasts. This represented an era that saw her understand significant truths, work-wise and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “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 the East Coast, Sennott began developing and showcasing stand-up while pursuing acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She decided to act independently, appearing at live shows with her friend and sharing hilarious (and very) weird skits on the internet. One, Baby Cult, centered on several females intensely fixated on having babies; another imagined being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being stuck in a thriller. By chance, she met Emma through campus film circles and ultimately appearing in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her path, she explains, has been people her own age giving her a shot, as opposed to the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she repeats, continuing humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who had doubts about her previously will certainly be kicking themselves now. As part of she labels a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she has created her dream vehicle. A few years back she shared content called “it’s LA” online, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a show about city dwellers juggling benefits of internet fame (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your associate being accused of being a substance-abusing stealer, and potentially becoming a risky outcast). One might tempting to make a program about digital influence that was horribly aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at the characters. The series steers clear of each, creating a depiction of affluent millennial living that’s frank about the chaos and the appeal.
Balanced Perspective
“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
