Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and immediately starts an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, seeming really apologetic. Although she's only a bit late, she needs to clarify. “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, that’s precisely what is ideal to hear. Additionally, it’s pretty unsurprising. Anyone who have seen her unapologetically openly gay and outspoken film titled Bottoms—which she co-wrote with the director and appeared in with her friend The Bear’s standout—would already know that Sennott holds plenty to say, ranging from about identity, intimacy, or the pros of starting a high-school fight club. Plus, by the end the recent seasonal HBO series titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star holds additional insights about the darker side of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she serves as a bridge for this generation, a tale-end millennial skilled for bridging different age groups).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, referencing the show in addition to the HBO hit, Insecure and Atlanta as influences for her series, which tracks the journey of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also fledgling agent Maia. Notably, the biggest influence on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, that show focusing on an up-and-coming celebrity navigating in an often-seedy Hollywood (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott discovered it amid the pandemic, became “captivated”, and decided 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—to some extent—from personal, originally difficult, relocation to LA and from her saturn return, a popular event for enthusiasts. This represented an era that included her grasp significant truths, professionally and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Brought up in Connecticut, Sennott began writing and performing comedy while enrolled in performance at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” 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 decided to act independently, performing at open mics with Edebiri and posting hilarious (and distinctly) bizarre online content on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted a group of women intensely fixated on having babies; a different one imagined working at the brand Hollister as similar to being trapped in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she met Emma through campus film circles and ultimately featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a religious event with hints of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been peers offering opportunities, rather than traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, stating with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who were skeptical regarding her then will surely be regretting it today. Through she labels a “wild, full-circle” development, she seems to have achieved her dream vehicle. In 2019 she uploaded a video called on LA life on the internet, in which she lampooned film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a show about city dwellers juggling the perks of digital stardom (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being labeled as being a intoxicated criminal, and potentially becoming a risky pariah). It would be easy to produce a show about internet celebrity that was extremely glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at those depicted. This show steers clear of each, making for a depiction of affluent young adult life that’s honest about the mess and the glamour.
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 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
