Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and immediately launches into an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, appearing truly apologetic. Despite being only a bit behind, she feels compelled to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, during an interview, this is exactly what you want to hear. Besides, it’s pretty predictable. Viewers who have seen her fearlessly openly gay and outspoken movie titled Bottoms—which she co-wrote with her creative partner and featured in with collaborator the talented actress—will already know that she has a lot to say, ranging from about gender, sex, or the merits of forming a youth combat group. Furthermore, by the end her latest eight-part show I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star carries even more insights on the challenges of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, she represents a bridge to younger audiences, straddling eras adept for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and the actress is a fan, citing the show in addition to the classic series, Insecure and the innovative program as influences for the project, which follows the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and fledgling agent Maia. Perhaps, the largest spot on creative vision was reserved for the popular sitcom, that program about an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt LA scene (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it during lockdown, became “captivated”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she notes. The inspiration for I Love LA emerged—in part—from personal, at first difficult, transition to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a much-talked-about phenomenon for followers. This represented a phase that involved her grasp major life lessons, work-wise and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Starting Out
Growing up in Connecticut, the star started writing and performing comedy while studying acting 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. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She decided to act independently, taking the stage at live shows with her friend and uploading hilarious (and distinctly) weird comedy videos digitally. One, Baby Cult, depicted a group of women obsessively drawn to pregnancy; a different one portrayed working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being stuck in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and ultimately starring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her path, she notes, has been peers offering opportunities, instead of traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, stating with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who questioned about her previously will surely be feeling foolish currently. In what she calls a “wild, full-circle” story, she has created the perfect project. A few years back she posted a video titled “it’s LA” on social media, in which she mocked movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a comedy about Angelenos managing benefits of online celebrity (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a drug-addled thief, and possibly becoming a risky persona non grata). One might tempting to make a series about internet celebrity that was extremely idealized—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at its subjects. I Love LA does neither, resulting in a representation of privileged millennial living that’s candid about the grot and the appeal.
Balanced Perspective
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
