Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and right away begins an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, seeming genuinely regretful. Despite being only a couple of minutes late, she wants to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, for a writer, that’s just what you want to hear. Additionally, it’s fairly predictable. Viewers who know her fearlessly queer and outspoken movie Bottoms—that she collaborated on with her creative partner and appeared in together with close companion Ayo Edebiri—would already know that Sennott has much to discuss, whether on identity, relationships, or the appeal of starting a high-school brawl society. Furthermore, after watching her new seasonal program I Love LA, it is clear that she carries even more perspectives about the challenges of Gen Z life (At 30, she represents an honorary member to younger audiences, straddling eras with a knack for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and the actress is enthusiastic, referencing it in addition to Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for her series, which details the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and fledgling talent manager Maia. However, the largest presence on concept was reserved for the popular sitcom, that show depicting a rising Hollywood star making his way in a gritty LA scene (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it amid lockdown, became “hooked”, and decided to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The idea for this project originated—partly—from personal, initially difficult, move to LA and from her astrological phase, a popular phenomenon for astrology heads. This represented an era that included her understand major life lessons, in her career and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Growing up in the East Coast, the star began developing and showcasing comedy while studying theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “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. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott decided to act independently, performing at live shows with Edebiri and uploading hysterical (and distinctly) unconventional comedy videos on the internet. One, Baby Cult, centered on characters intensely obsessed with motherhood; a different one envisioned working at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being stuck in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she met Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a religious event with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her path, she notes, has been people her own age supporting her, as opposed to traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, adding amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who were skeptical regarding her then will surely be regretting it now. In what she labels a “wild, full-circle” story, she appears to achieved her dream vehicle. In 2019 she uploaded content called on LA life on the internet, in which she mocked film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a series about LA residents juggling advantages of online celebrity (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your client being accused of being a drug-addled criminal, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). One might tempting to create a series about online fame that was horribly aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at those depicted. I Love LA steers clear of each, creating a portrait of advantaged young adult life that’s honest about the mess and the shine.
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
