Rachel Sennott joins the digital interview and at once launches into an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, appearing genuinely remorseful. Despite being only a couple of minutes behind, she feels compelled to justify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, during an interview, that’s exactly what you want to experience. Moreover, it’s fairly unsurprising. Viewers who have seen her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with Emma Seligman and starred in with close companion Ayo Edebiri—can already know that Sennott possesses much to share, whether on roles, sex, or the pros of starting a high-school brawl society. And, after watching the new eight-part program I Love LA, it is clear that the star has even more thoughts about the struggles of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, she represents a relatable figure for this generation, straddling eras with a knack for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
Parallels to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and Sennott admits to being enthusiastic, citing the show together with the HBO hit, Insecure and Atlanta as inspirations for her series, which tracks the struggles of online personality Tallulah and ally who is also aspiring agent Sennott’s character. Notably, the most significant spot on concept was reserved for Entourage, the show focusing on an emerging celebrity succeeding in a gritty Hollywood (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it amid COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she explains. The inspiration for this project came—in part—from her own, originally fractious, move to Los Angeles and from her cosmic event, a popular phenomenon for followers. This represented a phase that saw her understand significant life lessons, in her career and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in the East Coast, the star commenced developing and showcasing stand-up while pursuing theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She seized control, taking the stage at open mics with Ayo and posting uproarious (and very) unconventional online content digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on several females fetishistically drawn to motherhood; another imagined working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being stuck in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ultimately featuring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her career, she notes, has been people her own age giving her a shot, instead of established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, adding with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who had doubts about Sennott then will certainly be regretting it currently. In what she describes as a “wild, full-circle” development, she has created the perfect project. Previously she uploaded a video titled “it’s LA” on social media, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a show about Angelenos balancing the perks of online celebrity (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being suspected of being a substance-abusing stealer, and potentially becoming a risky pariah). One might easy to produce a series about digital influence that was horribly idealized—or, more problematic, one that punched down at those depicted. This show avoids both, creating a portrait of affluent millennial life that’s honest about the grot and the shine.
Empathetic Approach
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” she says. “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
