Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and right away starts an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, appearing truly remorseful. Despite being only a couple of minutes delayed, she wants to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, during an interview, that’s precisely what you want to encounter. Besides, it’s fairly unsurprising. Those who know her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and outspoken project Bottoms—which she collaborated on with the director and starred in together with close companion Ayo Edebiri—would be aware that she has plenty to discuss, ranging from on roles, sex, or the pros of creating a teen brawl society. And, by the end the new eight-part HBO series titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she has further insights on the struggles of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, she is a relatable figure to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial with a knack for straddling both generations).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and the actress admits to being a fan, citing the show together with Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as guides for the project, which tracks the travails of a social media star Tallulah and her friend and aspiring agent portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the biggest influence on creative vision belonged to the HBO series, the show focusing on an emerging Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt Hollywood (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She began viewing it throughout the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and resolved to create a new version on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The idea for I Love LA originated—in part—from personal, initially difficult, move to Tinseltown and from the cosmic event, a frequently discussed occurrence for enthusiasts. That period marked a time that saw her grasp major truths, work-wise and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Brought up in Connecticut, Sennott began creating and acting humor while studying acting at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She took matters into her own hands, performing at open mics with her friend and sharing uproarious (and decidedly) weird comedy videos digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted a group of women obsessively drawn to pregnancy; another portrayed working at a trendy retail outlet as like being stuck in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she met Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a Jewish wake with hints of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her path, she explains, has been peers supporting her, rather than established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, continuing with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who were skeptical regarding her previously will certainly be feeling foolish currently. As part of she calls a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she appears to created the perfect project. A few years back she shared a clip called about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a comedy about Angelenos balancing the perks of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being accused of being a substance-abusing stealer, and perhaps becoming a unreliable persona non grata). Some could tempting to create a show about digital influence that was overly aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at the characters. The series steers clear of each, resulting in a representation of advantaged millennial life that’s honest about the grot and the glamour.
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 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
