🔗 Share this article

Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and at once begins an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, sounding really regretful. She is only slightly behind, she needs to explain. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, in this context, this is exactly what you want to encounter. Moreover, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone familiar with her fearlessly LGBTQ+ and outspoken film titled Bottoms—which Sennott penned with the director and appeared in with her friend The Bear’s standout—can understand that she possesses much to share, whether about roles, sex, or the pros of creating a teen brawl society. Plus, after watching her latest eight-part HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that she has even more insights regarding the darker side of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, Sennott is an honorary member for this generation, a tale-end millennial with a knack for connecting millennials and Gen Z).

Influences and Creative Vision

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott readily acknowledges a fan, naming the show in addition to the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for the project, which follows the journey of an influencer Tallulah and her friend and new agent Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the most significant presence on creative vision was reserved for Entourage, that HBO sitcom focusing on an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in an often-seedy Hollywood (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it amid COVID-19, became “captivated”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.

“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The idea for I Love LA emerged—partly—from firsthand, initially fractious, transition to LA and from her cosmic event, a much-talked-about phenomenon for followers. This represented a time that included her understand major insights, professionally and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”

Early Beginnings

Raised in New England, the star began creating and acting stand-up while enrolled in theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “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. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”

Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at open mics with Edebiri and sharing hysterical (and distinctly) weird online content on the internet. One, Baby Cult, centered on characters fetishistically obsessed with pregnancy; a different one imagined being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being caught in a thriller. By chance, she met Seligman through campus film circles and ended up featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a religious event with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her path, she says, has been people her own age giving her a shot, rather than established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, continuing with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”

Manifesting Dreams

Anyone who were skeptical about Sennott previously will certainly be regretting it today. In what she describes as a “incredibly circular” story, she has manifested the perfect project. Previously she posted a clip called on LA life on the internet, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a show about Angelenos managing advantages of internet fame (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your client being suspected of being a substance-abusing criminal, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). One might tempting to make a series about online fame that was extremely idealized—or, more problematic, one that mocked at those depicted. This show avoids both, resulting in a depiction of affluent millennial life that’s frank about the grot and the glamour.

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 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