Rachel Sennott enters the digital interview and at once launches into an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, seeming genuinely apologetic. She is only a bit late, she feels compelled to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s exactly what is ideal to hear. Besides, it’s quite expected. Viewers who know the fearlessly queer and brash film titled Bottoms—that she penned with her creative partner and appeared in alongside collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will understand that she possesses plenty to discuss, ranging from about identity, relationships, or the pros of creating a teen combat group. Plus, after watching the new seasonal show I Love LA, viewers realize that the star has further perspectives about the challenges of modern youth (As a millennial, Sennott is an honorary member of the gang, straddling eras skilled for bridging both generations).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and the actress is enthusiastic, naming it in addition to the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as influences for I Love LA, which tracks the journey of a social media star Tallulah and ally who is also fledgling representative Maia. However, the most significant presence on concept belonged to Entourage, that program focusing on a rising A-list actor making his way in a gritty entertainment industry (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott discovered it throughout lockdown, became “hooked”, and chose to put her own twist on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she notes. The concept for this project originated—in part—from personal, initially difficult, transition to LA and from the saturn return, a frequently discussed phenomenon for astrology heads. That period marked a time that included her understand some big life lessons, professionally and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in New England, Sennott began writing and performing stand-up while studying performance at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott seized control, taking the stage at amateur nights with Ayo and posting uproarious (and distinctly) weird comedy videos on the internet. One, Baby Cult, followed several females fetishistically fixated on having babies; a different one imagined being employed at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being trapped in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Seligman through NYU’s movie community and eventually featuring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of the intense thriller. The big theme of her journey, she says, has been peers offering opportunities, as opposed to the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she confirms, stating amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who questioned regarding her previously will certainly be kicking themselves today. In what she calls a “astonishingly complete” story, she has created an ideal role. In 2019 she uploaded a video called about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a comedy about LA residents managing the perks of internet fame (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being accused of being a intoxicated criminal, and potentially becoming a unreliable outcast). It would be easy to produce a show about online fame that was extremely aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at its subjects. The series does neither, creating a depiction of advantaged millennial existence that’s candid about the grot and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“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
