Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and right away begins an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, appearing genuinely regretful. Although she's only a couple of minutes delayed, she feels compelled to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, for a writer, that’s just what is ideal to experience. Besides, it’s pretty expected. Anyone familiar with her unapologetically queer and brash film Bottoms—which she co-wrote with the director and featured in alongside close companion the talented actress—would already know that Sennott holds much to discuss, be it about gender, relationships, or the pros of creating a high-school brawl society. Furthermore, by the end the recent seasonal show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has even more insights regarding the struggles of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she serves as a bridge of the gang, a tale-end millennial adept for connecting both generations).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
Parallels to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges an admirer, naming it together with the classic series, Insecure and Atlanta as influences for the project, which details the struggles of a social media star Tallulah and close companion who is also new agent Sennott’s character. Notably, the largest presence on concept was reserved for Entourage, that program focusing on an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in an often-seedy entertainment industry (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it throughout lockdown, became “captivated”, and chose to create a new version on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she notes. The inspiration for I Love LA originated—partly—from personal, at first fractious, move to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a frequently discussed occurrence for followers. It was a time that saw her understand some big insights, professionally and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Growing up in the East Coast, the star commenced creating and acting stand-up while enrolled in theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She decided to act independently, appearing at live shows with Ayo and uploading hilarious (and distinctly) bizarre online content online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed characters obsessively obsessed with pregnancy; another portrayed being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being stuck in a horror film. By chance, she connected with Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately starring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a Jewish wake with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her path, she says, has been people her own age offering opportunities, as opposed to traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, continuing amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who questioned about her previously will likely be regretting it today. As part of she labels a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she seems to have created the perfect project. Previously she posted content titled on LA life online, in which she mocked film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a show about Angelenos balancing the perks of online celebrity (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your friend being labeled as being a intoxicated criminal, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). One might easy to make a show about online fame that was horribly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA does neither, resulting in a representation of affluent young adult living that’s honest about the chaos and the shine.
Empathetic Approach
“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
