🔗 Share this article

Rachel Sennott joins the video call and at once begins an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, appearing truly remorseful. Despite being only a bit delayed, she feels compelled to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, in this context, this is precisely what one hopes to hear. Moreover, it’s pretty predictable. Anyone familiar with the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and brash project Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with her creative partner and featured in together with close companion the talented actress—will be aware that she has much to discuss, be it about gender, sex, or the pros of starting a teen brawl society. Plus, once you finish the recent seasonal program titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she carries additional perspectives regarding the darker side of modern youth (At 30, Sennott is a bridge to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial adept for bridging both generations).

Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach

The comparisons to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and the actress is a fan, citing the show alongside the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as influences for the project, which details the journey of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also new talent manager Maia. Notably, the biggest influence on concept was reserved for the popular sitcom, that program about an up-and-coming Hollywood star making his way in an often-seedy entertainment industry (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She discovered it during the pandemic, became “captivated”, and decided to create a new version 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 originated—to some extent—from her own, initially difficult, move to Los Angeles and from her cosmic event, a much-talked-about occurrence for enthusiasts. This represented a phase that involved her grasp major insights, in her career and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”

Humble Origins

Brought up in the East Coast, Sennott commenced writing and performing comedy while studying performance at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “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 Edebiri and posting hilarious (and very) bizarre comedy videos online. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on several females obsessively obsessed with having babies; a different one envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as like being trapped in a thriller. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through NYU’s movie community and eventually featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her path, she notes, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, instead of traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, adding with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Career Breakthrough

Individuals who questioned about Sennott earlier will surely be kicking themselves now. In what she calls a “incredibly circular” story, she has manifested her dream vehicle. In 2019 she shared a video called on LA life on social media, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a series about LA residents balancing the perks of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being labeled as being a drug-addled criminal, and possibly becoming a unreliable persona non grata). It would be tempting to produce a program about online fame that was extremely aspirational—or, more problematic, one that belittled at those depicted. I Love LA avoids both, creating a portrait of affluent millennial existence that’s frank about the chaos and the glamour.

Nuanced Portrayal

“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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