Rachel Sennott joins the video call and at once begins an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, seeming truly regretful. Despite being only a bit late, she feels compelled to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, for a writer, that’s exactly what you want to experience. Besides, it’s fairly unsurprising. Anyone familiar with the boldly openly gay and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with the director and appeared in together with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will already know that Sennott possesses much to say, be it on gender, sex, or the merits of forming a high-school combat group. Furthermore, once you finish the latest multi-episode program titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries even more thoughts regarding the challenges of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott serves as an honorary member for this generation, straddling eras skilled for connecting different age groups).
Influences and Creative Vision
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott is an admirer, citing it in addition to Sex and the City, Insecure and the innovative program as guides for the project, which follows the struggles of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also new representative portrayed by Sennott. However, the largest spot on creative vision belonged to the popular sitcom, that program about a rising celebrity succeeding in an often-seedy LA scene (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott started watching it amid the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she says. The idea for I Love LA came—in part—from her own, initially difficult, transition to Tinseltown and from her saturn return, a much-talked-about event for followers. This represented a time that saw her grasp significant truths, in her career and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Raised in the East Coast, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing stand-up while enrolled in performance 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. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott seized control, performing at amateur nights with Ayo and sharing uproarious (and distinctly) weird skits online. One, Baby Cult, centered on several females intensely obsessed with pregnancy; another envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being caught in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of the intense thriller. The big theme of her career, she says, has been contemporaries supporting her, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, stating amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Rising Success
Those who had doubts regarding her previously will likely be regretting it currently. In what she calls a “incredibly circular” development, she has created an ideal role. Previously she uploaded content named on LA life on social media, in which she parodied movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a series about LA residents juggling benefits of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your friend being suspected of being a drug-addled stealer, and potentially becoming a risky persona non grata). It would be tempting to produce a show about internet celebrity that was overly idealized—or, worse, one that belittled at its subjects. I Love LA steers clear of each, creating a portrait of advantaged twentysomething living that’s candid about the mess and the shine.
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 says. “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
