Rachel Sennott enters the video call and at once begins an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, sounding truly regretful. She is only a bit late, she needs to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Fortunately, in this context, this is exactly what you want to experience. Moreover, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone who have seen the unapologetically openly gay and brash movie Bottoms—which she penned with Emma Seligman and starred in together with collaborator the talented actress—will understand that she possesses plenty to say, be it on identity, intimacy, or the merits of creating a high-school fight club. And, by the end her new multi-episode show titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds further thoughts regarding the darker side of modern youth (As a millennial, she represents an honorary member for this generation, a tale-end millennial adept for straddling different age groups).
Influences and Creative Vision
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and the actress readily acknowledges an admirer, citing the show alongside the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as influences for the project, which details the struggles of online personality Tallulah and ally who is also aspiring agent portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the biggest presence on the moodboard belonged to the popular sitcom, the program depicting a rising celebrity navigating in a gritty Hollywood (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She started watching it during the pandemic, became “hooked”, and resolved to create a new version on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she says. The inspiration for I Love LA originated—in part—from firsthand, originally difficult, transition to Tinseltown and from the cosmic event, a frequently discussed event for followers. That period marked a phase that involved her understand major truths, professionally and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Starting Out
Raised in Connecticut, Sennott commenced writing and performing comedy while studying acting at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “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. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott seized control, taking the stage at amateur nights with Ayo and sharing uproarious (and distinctly) bizarre online content online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on a group of women obsessively drawn to having babies; a different one imagined working at the brand Hollister as akin to being caught in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her path, she notes, has been peers offering opportunities, rather than the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she confirms, continuing amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Individuals who questioned regarding Sennott previously will certainly be regretting it currently. Through she calls a “wild, full-circle” development, she appears to manifested her dream vehicle. In 2019 she uploaded a video titled on LA life on the internet, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a show about Angelenos juggling advantages of internet fame (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being accused of being a drug-addled thief, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). It would be tempting to make a show about internet celebrity that was horribly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at the characters. This show avoids both, creating a portrait of affluent millennial living that’s honest about the grot and the appeal.
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 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
