Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and right away begins an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, seeming really apologetic. Although she's only a couple of minutes delayed, she wants to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, for a writer, that’s precisely what one hopes to hear. Besides, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone familiar with the boldly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass movie Bottoms—that she co-wrote with the director and featured in with her friend the talented actress—can already know that she has a lot to say, whether about identity, relationships, or the appeal of creating a youth combat group. And, once you finish her recent eight-part show I Love LA, it is clear that the star has even more insights regarding the struggles of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, Sennott represents an honorary member of the gang, on the cusp with a knack for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and the actress is a fan, referencing the show alongside Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for the project, which tracks the travails of an influencer Tallulah and close companion who is also new representative portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the largest influence on creative vision belonged to the popular sitcom, that show depicting a rising Hollywood star making his way in a corrupt LA scene (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She started watching it amid the pandemic, became “hooked”, and chose 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 says. The inspiration for I Love LA emerged—in part—from personal, at first fractious, transition to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about event for followers. It was a phase that included her understand major life lessons, professionally and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “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 …”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in New England, Sennott started developing and showcasing comedy while pursuing theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” 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 took matters into her own hands, appearing at live shows with Edebiri and posting uproarious (and decidedly) unconventional skits digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women obsessively drawn to having babies; a different one portrayed working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being caught in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and ended up appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a Jewish wake with echoes of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her career, she says, has been peers giving her a shot, rather than the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, continuing with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who had doubts about her previously will surely be feeling foolish now. Through she labels a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she seems to have created an ideal role. A few years back she uploaded a video titled “it’s LA” on social media, in which she parodied film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a show about city dwellers managing benefits of digital stardom (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being accused of being a drug-addled thief, and perhaps becoming a unreliable pariah). One might tempting to create a series about internet celebrity that was horribly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that mocked at those depicted. The series avoids both, resulting in a depiction of advantaged twentysomething living that’s frank about the chaos and the shine.
Nuanced Portrayal
“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
