Rachel Sennott appears on the online meeting and at once launches into an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, appearing genuinely remorseful. Despite being only a couple of minutes late, 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, during an interview, this is exactly what is ideal to experience. Moreover, it’s pretty expected. Anyone who have seen the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and outspoken film titled Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with her creative partner and starred in alongside collaborator Ayo Edebiri—can understand that she holds a lot to discuss, whether about roles, sex, or the appeal of starting a high-school brawl society. And, after watching her new seasonal HBO series titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star carries additional insights on the struggles of Gen Z life (As a millennial, Sennott serves as an honorary member for this generation, straddling eras with a knack for connecting both generations).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and Sennott is a fan, citing it together with Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as guides for the project, which details the struggles of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also fledgling agent Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the biggest presence on creative vision was reserved for the HBO series, that program focusing on an up-and-coming Hollywood star succeeding in a gritty Hollywood (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She began viewing it amid the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and chose 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 explains. The concept for I Love LA came—in part—from her own, initially difficult, transition to LA and from her astrological phase, a popular occurrence for enthusiasts. This represented a time that saw her grasp major truths, professionally and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in the East Coast, Sennott started writing and performing comedy while enrolled in acting at NYU’s Tisch. “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. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott seized control, taking the stage at live shows with her friend and posting hilarious (and decidedly) unconventional online content online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on several females intensely fixated on pregnancy; a different one portrayed working at the brand Hollister as similar to being caught in a horror film. By chance, she connected with Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately starring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a religious event with hints of the intense thriller. The big theme of her path, she says, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, as opposed to traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, stating amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who were skeptical about her earlier will certainly be feeling foolish today. Through she labels a “wild, full-circle” development, she appears to achieved an ideal role. A few years back she uploaded a video titled about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a show about city dwellers juggling advantages of online celebrity (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your friend being labeled as being a intoxicated stealer, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). Some could tempting to create a show about online fame that was extremely idealized—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at those depicted. I Love LA avoids both, making for a depiction of affluent millennial life that’s honest about the grot and the appeal.
Empathetic Approach
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
