Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and immediately launches into an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, sounding genuinely regretful. She is only a couple of minutes behind, she needs to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, for a writer, this is exactly what one hopes to hear. Moreover, it’s pretty unsurprising. Anyone familiar with her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—that she penned with her creative partner and appeared in together with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—would be aware that she possesses plenty to share, be it about roles, sex, or the merits of starting a teen fight club. And, by the end her latest eight-part program I Love LA, viewers realize that she has further perspectives regarding the challenges of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott represents a relatable figure of the gang, on the cusp with a knack for connecting different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and the actress admits to being an admirer, referencing the show alongside the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for her series, which tracks the journey of an influencer Tallulah and ally and aspiring representative portrayed by Sennott. However, the largest influence on concept went to the HBO series, the show depicting a rising A-list actor making his way in a gritty LA scene (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She began viewing it throughout COVID-19, became “captivated”, and resolved 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 says. The idea for the series emerged—in part—from firsthand, initially difficult, transition to Tinseltown and from the astrological phase, a much-talked-about phenomenon for enthusiasts. That period marked an era that involved her grasp major life lessons, professionally and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Starting Out
Growing up in Connecticut, Sennott began writing and performing humor 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 says. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott decided to act independently, performing at open mics with Ayo and sharing uproarious (and distinctly) unconventional online content digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed several females intensely fixated on having babies; another imagined working at the brand Hollister as similar to being caught in a horror film. By chance, she encountered Seligman through the university’s film scene and eventually starring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a religious event with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her career, she notes, has been people her own age supporting her, as opposed to the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, stating with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Individuals who questioned about her earlier will certainly be feeling foolish today. In what she labels a “astonishingly complete” story, she seems to have achieved an ideal role. A few years back she shared a video titled “it’s LA” on social media, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a comedy about Angelenos managing the perks of online celebrity (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your client being labeled as being a substance-abusing stealer, and perhaps becoming a risky pariah). It would be tempting to make a program about digital influence that was overly idealized—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA steers clear of each, resulting in a portrait of privileged millennial existence that’s honest about the chaos and the glamour.
Empathetic Approach
“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
