Rachel Sennott joins the video call and immediately launches into an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, appearing genuinely apologetic. Although she's only slightly late, she wants to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, in this context, that’s precisely what is ideal to hear. Moreover, it’s pretty predictable. Anyone who have seen her boldly queer and outspoken film titled Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with the director and starred in together with close companion the talented actress—can be aware that Sennott holds plenty to say, ranging from about identity, sex, or the appeal of creating a youth brawl society. Plus, by the end her new seasonal program I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star has further thoughts regarding the struggles of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, she is an honorary member for this generation, a tale-end millennial adept for connecting different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott is a fan, referencing it together with the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as guides for the project, which follows the journey of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and new representative portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the largest influence on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, that program focusing on a rising A-list actor succeeding in a gritty LA scene (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott began viewing it amid lockdown, became “hooked”, and decided to add a fresh perspective on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she explains. The inspiration for I Love LA came—to some extent—from her own, initially fractious, relocation to Los Angeles and from her cosmic event, a popular event for astrology heads. This represented an era that included her grasp some big truths, in her career and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Humble Origins
Growing up in New England, the star commenced writing and performing stand-up while enrolled in theatre at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “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 took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at live shows with her friend and uploading hilarious (and very) unconventional online content online. One, Baby Cult, followed several females obsessively fixated on pregnancy; another envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being stuck in a thriller. By chance, she encountered Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ultimately starring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been contemporaries supporting her, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, continuing with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who were skeptical about Sennott previously will surely be feeling foolish currently. As part of she calls a “astonishingly complete” development, she seems to have manifested her dream vehicle. In 2019 she posted a clip called on LA life on social media, in which she mocked film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a series about LA residents juggling the perks of digital stardom (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being suspected of being a intoxicated criminal, and potentially becoming a unreliable outcast). It would be easy to produce a show about online fame that was overly aspirational—or, worse, one that belittled at those depicted. I Love LA avoids both, making for a depiction of privileged young adult living that’s honest about the grot and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
