Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and at once starts an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, seeming genuinely remorseful. Although she's only slightly delayed, she needs to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, in this context, this is exactly what you want to hear. Moreover, it’s pretty unsurprising. Those who have seen the boldly openly gay and brash project Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and featured in alongside close companion Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that Sennott possesses plenty to share, be it on identity, sex, or the pros of starting a high-school fight club. Furthermore, once you finish the new eight-part program I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star holds additional thoughts about the challenges of modern youth (At 30, she is a bridge of the gang, on the cusp with a knack for straddling different age groups).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and the actress is enthusiastic, referencing the show together with the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as guides for I Love LA, which details the journey of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and new agent Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the biggest spot on the moodboard was reserved for the HBO series, that program depicting a rising A-list actor navigating in a gritty LA scene (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott discovered it throughout lockdown, became “hooked”, and decided to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The concept for the series emerged—partly—from firsthand, originally difficult, relocation to Tinseltown and from the cosmic event, a much-talked-about event for astrology heads. It was a phase that involved her understand significant life lessons, work-wise and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” 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 …”
Humble Origins
Brought up in the East Coast, the star began developing and showcasing humor while enrolled in 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 explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at open mics with Ayo and sharing hilarious (and decidedly) bizarre online content online. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted characters fetishistically fixated on having babies; another portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being caught in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she met Emma through campus film circles and ended up appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a religious event with hints of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her journey, she notes, has been contemporaries supporting her, as opposed to established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, stating with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Rising Success
Those who were skeptical about her previously will likely be kicking themselves currently. As part of she labels a “incredibly circular” story, she seems to have created her dream vehicle. Previously she shared a video called on LA life on the internet, in which she mocked film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a comedy about LA residents juggling advantages of digital stardom (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being suspected of being a intoxicated criminal, and perhaps becoming a unreliable persona non grata). Some could easy to make a program about digital influence that was horribly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that mocked at its subjects. This show does neither, making for a portrait of advantaged twentysomething living that’s honest about the mess and the shine.
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 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
