Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and right away launches into an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, appearing really remorseful. Despite being only a bit late, she feels compelled to justify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, for a writer, this is exactly what you want to hear. Besides, it’s pretty predictable. Anyone who have seen the boldly queer and unapologetically crass movie Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with her creative partner and appeared in alongside collaborator The Bear’s standout—will already know that she possesses a lot to say, whether on roles, intimacy, or the appeal of forming a youth fight club. Furthermore, by the end the recent multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has additional insights about the challenges of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, she serves as an honorary member for this generation, on the cusp adept for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Creative Vision
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and Sennott is enthusiastic, citing the show alongside the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as inspirations for the project, which follows the travails of a social media star Tallulah and close companion who is also aspiring representative Maia. Perhaps, the biggest spot on creative vision belonged to the popular sitcom, the program depicting a rising Hollywood star navigating in an often-seedy entertainment industry (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott started watching it during lockdown, became “obsessed”, and decided to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she says. The idea for the series originated—in part—from firsthand, originally difficult, relocation to LA and from the saturn return, a popular occurrence for astrology heads. That period marked a time that included her understand significant truths, work-wise and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Brought up in the East Coast, Sennott started creating and acting humor while pursuing performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “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. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at open mics with her friend and posting hilarious (and decidedly) unconventional comedy videos on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed a group of women fetishistically drawn to having babies; another envisioned working at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being stuck in a horror film. Interestingly, she connected with Emma through NYU’s movie community and ultimately starring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a religious event with hints of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her career, she explains, has been contemporaries supporting her, rather than traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she repeats, continuing amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who were skeptical about Sennott then will likely be regretting it today. In what she labels a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she seems to have manifested the perfect project. In 2019 she uploaded content named on LA life on social media, in which she mocked movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a show about Angelenos managing the perks of digital stardom (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your associate being suspected of being a drug-addled stealer, and perhaps becoming a unreliable outcast). Some could tempting to make a show about online fame that was extremely idealized—or, worse, one that belittled at its subjects. I Love LA avoids both, resulting in a portrait of affluent millennial living that’s frank about the mess and the appeal.
Balanced Perspective
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
