Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and immediately starts an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, seeming genuinely apologetic. Although she's only a bit late, she wants to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s precisely what is ideal to encounter. Additionally, it’s quite predictable. Viewers who have seen the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and outspoken movie Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with the director and featured in alongside close companion Ayo Edebiri—can be aware that she holds much to say, whether on identity, relationships, or the merits of forming a high-school fight club. Furthermore, after watching the new eight-part program I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star has even more insights about the darker side of modern youth (Now in her thirties, she serves as an honorary member of the gang, straddling eras skilled for connecting both generations).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and the actress is a fan, naming the show alongside the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as influences for the project, which details the journey of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also aspiring talent manager Maia. Perhaps, the most significant spot on the moodboard belonged to the popular sitcom, the HBO sitcom focusing on an up-and-coming A-list actor navigating in a gritty Hollywood (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it throughout lockdown, became “captivated”, and decided 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 inspiration for this project originated—partly—from her own, initially difficult, move to LA and from the cosmic event, a popular phenomenon for astrology heads. This represented a time that involved her grasp major life lessons, professionally and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “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…”
Humble Origins
Brought up in Connecticut, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing stand-up while enrolled in acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “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.”
She took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at amateur nights with Edebiri and posting hilarious (and distinctly) weird comedy videos online. One, Baby Cult, depicted a group of women obsessively drawn to motherhood; another imagined working at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being caught in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she met Emma through campus film circles and ended up starring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her path, she says, has been contemporaries supporting her, instead of the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, stating humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who had doubts regarding her previously will certainly be feeling foolish today. As part of she describes as a “wild, full-circle” development, she has created her dream vehicle. A few years back she shared a clip named about Los Angeles online, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a show about Angelenos managing the perks of digital stardom (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being labeled as being a intoxicated criminal, and potentially becoming a unreliable pariah). One might simple to create a program about internet celebrity that was overly idealized—or, more problematic, one that belittled at those depicted. The series avoids both, creating a representation of privileged twentysomething living that’s honest about the grot and the appeal.
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
