Rachel Sennott appears on the online meeting and right away starts an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, appearing genuinely apologetic. Although she's only a couple of minutes 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, during an interview, that’s exactly what you want to experience. Besides, it’s pretty predictable. Anyone familiar with her boldly queer and unapologetically crass movie Bottoms—that she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and featured in alongside collaborator The Bear’s standout—can understand that she holds a lot to discuss, be it about roles, sex, or the merits of forming a high-school combat group. Furthermore, once you finish her new eight-part program I Love LA, viewers realize that she has even more perspectives about the struggles of Gen Z life (As a millennial, Sennott is a relatable figure of the gang, a tale-end millennial skilled for bridging both generations).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott is a fan, referencing it alongside Sex and the City, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for the project, which tracks the struggles of online personality Tallulah and close companion who is also fledgling representative portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the largest spot on the moodboard was reserved for Entourage, that show depicting a rising celebrity making his way in a corrupt Hollywood (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She began viewing it during lockdown, became “obsessed”, and decided to create a new version 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 explains. The inspiration for the series came—to some extent—from personal, at first difficult, transition to LA and from the cosmic event, a popular event for followers. This represented a phase that saw her grasp some big truths, work-wise and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Raised in Connecticut, the star started creating and acting stand-up while enrolled in theatre at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” 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?”
Sennott seized control, appearing at amateur nights with Ayo and sharing uproarious (and very) unconventional skits digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on several females obsessively obsessed with motherhood; a different one envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being trapped in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she met Seligman through the university’s film scene and ended up starring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the intense thriller. The central motif of her career, she explains, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, as opposed to traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, adding amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Anyone who questioned about her then will surely be feeling foolish today. As part of she describes as a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she appears to manifested her dream vehicle. In 2019 she posted a video titled “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she mocked film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a comedy about city dwellers balancing benefits of internet fame (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being suspected of being a intoxicated criminal, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). One might simple to produce a series about digital influence that was horribly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that belittled at those depicted. The series avoids both, creating a representation of privileged young adult life that’s frank about the chaos and the shine.
Empathetic Approach
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
