Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and at once begins an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, sounding genuinely regretful. Despite being only a couple of minutes late, she needs to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, during an interview, this is precisely what one hopes to experience. Besides, it’s pretty predictable. Viewers who know the unapologetically openly gay and outspoken film Bottoms—that Sennott penned with her creative partner and starred in together with close companion the talented actress—will understand that she has plenty to say, whether on gender, relationships, or the pros of starting a youth brawl society. Furthermore, after watching her new eight-part HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star has additional thoughts on the struggles of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she serves as an honorary member of the gang, straddling eras skilled for straddling different age groups).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
Parallels to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott readily acknowledges an admirer, referencing it together with the classic series, Insecure and the innovative program as inspirations for I Love LA, which details the journey of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and new talent manager Maia. Notably, the biggest presence on concept went to Entourage, that HBO sitcom about a rising celebrity navigating in a gritty LA scene (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it amid lockdown, became “hooked”, and decided to create a new version 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 explains. The inspiration for I Love LA came—in part—from firsthand, at first rocky, move to Los Angeles and from her cosmic event, a frequently discussed phenomenon for enthusiasts. That period marked a phase that saw her understand some big truths, in her career and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “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 New England, the star started developing and showcasing comedy while enrolled in performance at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She decided to act independently, appearing at open mics with her friend and sharing hysterical (and decidedly) bizarre online content digitally. One, Baby Cult, followed characters obsessively fixated on motherhood; another portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being caught in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she met Emma through NYU’s movie community and eventually appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a religious event with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her journey, she notes, has been contemporaries supporting her, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, continuing with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who were skeptical regarding her previously will likely be regretting it today. In what she describes as a “astonishingly complete” development, she appears to achieved her dream vehicle. In 2019 she posted a video titled “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she parodied movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a series about LA residents managing the perks of online celebrity (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your client being labeled as being a substance-abusing criminal, and possibly becoming a risky persona non grata). Some could tempting to make a series about online fame that was extremely idealized—or, more problematic, one that mocked at the characters. This show steers clear of each, making for a representation of affluent young adult living that’s honest about the mess and the shine.
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 comments. “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
