Rachel Sennott joins the digital interview and at once launches into an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, sounding truly remorseful. Despite being only a bit delayed, she wants 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!” Fortunately, for a writer, this is precisely what is ideal to experience. Additionally, it’s fairly expected. Viewers who know her boldly queer and outspoken movie titled Bottoms—that she co-wrote with Emma Seligman and starred in alongside close companion the talented actress—will understand that she holds plenty to say, whether about roles, relationships, or the merits of forming a youth combat group. Furthermore, after watching the latest eight-part HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she holds additional insights about the struggles of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she represents a bridge to younger audiences, straddling eras with a knack for straddling different age groups).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and Sennott admits to being enthusiastic, referencing the show alongside the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as guides for the project, which follows the journey of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also new representative portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the most significant spot on creative vision went to Entourage, that HBO sitcom focusing on an up-and-coming celebrity navigating in a corrupt LA scene (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She began viewing it during COVID-19, became “captivated”, and chose to create a new version on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she explains. The inspiration for I Love LA originated—partly—from firsthand, initially fractious, move to LA and from her saturn return, a popular phenomenon for astrology heads. It was an era that saw her grasp some big insights, work-wise and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in the East Coast, Sennott commenced creating and acting humor while enrolled in performance at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “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. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott seized control, performing at open mics with her friend and sharing hilarious (and decidedly) weird online content on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed several females intensely drawn to motherhood; another portrayed working at the brand Hollister as like being trapped in a thriller. By chance, she connected with Emma through campus film circles and ultimately featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a religious event with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her journey, she says, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, continuing with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who had doubts about her previously will certainly be regretting it today. Through she calls a “incredibly circular” development, she has created the perfect project. Previously she posted content titled on LA life online, in which she parodied film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a show about Angelenos balancing the perks of internet fame (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being accused of being a drug-addled criminal, and possibly becoming a unreliable outcast). It would be tempting to produce a program about online fame that was overly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that belittled at the characters. This show steers clear of each, resulting in a representation of affluent millennial existence that’s frank about the mess and the glamour.
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 observes. “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
