Rachel Sennott enters the video call and right away launches into an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, seeming genuinely remorseful. Although she's only slightly late, she feels compelled to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s precisely what you want to experience. Moreover, it’s pretty predictable. Anyone who know the boldly queer and unapologetically crass movie Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and appeared in together with her friend The Bear’s standout—will understand that Sennott possesses a lot to share, be it on identity, sex, or the merits of creating a teen brawl society. Plus, once you finish her latest eight-part program I Love LA, viewers realize that she carries further thoughts on the struggles of Gen Z life (At 30, Sennott represents an honorary member of the gang, straddling eras skilled for bridging different age groups).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and the actress readily acknowledges a fan, citing the show together with Sex and the City, Insecure and the innovative program as guides for her series, which details the struggles of an influencer Tallulah and close companion who is also aspiring representative Maia. Notably, the largest spot on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, that program depicting an emerging celebrity succeeding in a gritty Hollywood (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it throughout COVID-19, became “captivated”, and decided to create a new version 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 explains. The concept for the series originated—partly—from personal, initially rocky, transition to LA and from her astrological phase, a popular phenomenon for followers. This represented a phase that saw her grasp significant truths, work-wise and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in New England, Sennott started developing and showcasing humor while studying theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott decided to act independently, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and posting hilarious (and very) weird online content online. One, titled Baby Cult, followed characters fetishistically drawn to having babies; another imagined working at a trendy retail outlet as like being stuck in a thriller. By chance, she connected with Seligman through the university’s film scene and ended up appearing in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her path, she says, has been peers supporting her, as opposed to the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she confirms, adding with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Anyone who had doubts about Sennott earlier will certainly be kicking themselves currently. In what she calls a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she seems to have achieved an ideal role. A few years back she posted a clip named about Los Angeles on social media, in which she mocked film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a series about LA residents juggling benefits of online celebrity (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your client being labeled as being a drug-addled stealer, and possibly becoming a risky outcast). It would be simple to create a program about digital influence that was extremely aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at those depicted. I Love LA avoids both, creating a portrait of affluent twentysomething existence that’s candid about the grot and the appeal.
Empathetic Approach
“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
