Rachel Sennott appears on the digital interview and at once begins an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, sounding genuinely regretful. Despite being only a bit delayed, she feels compelled to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s exactly what one hopes to encounter. Additionally, it’s pretty unsurprising. Anyone who have seen the boldly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—which she co-wrote with Emma Seligman and appeared in alongside collaborator The Bear’s standout—will already know that Sennott has a lot to discuss, whether on roles, relationships, or the merits of creating a high-school brawl society. Furthermore, by the end her recent multi-episode show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star has further insights regarding the struggles of modern youth (At 30, she serves as a relatable figure for this generation, straddling eras with a knack for bridging different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott is enthusiastic, referencing the show together with the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as guides for her series, which details the journey of an influencer Tallulah and her friend and new representative Maia. Notably, the biggest spot on the moodboard belonged to the HBO series, that program depicting an emerging celebrity navigating in a corrupt Hollywood (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it during lockdown, became “captivated”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective 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 inspiration for I Love LA emerged—to some extent—from her own, at first fractious, transition to LA and from her saturn return, a popular occurrence for enthusiasts. It was a phase that included her understand major truths, work-wise and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Growing up in New England, Sennott began creating and acting comedy while studying 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. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She seized control, appearing at live shows with Ayo and sharing uproarious (and very) unconventional skits on the internet. One, Baby Cult, followed a group of women intensely obsessed with pregnancy; another portrayed being employed at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being stuck in a horror film. By chance, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and eventually starring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a religious event with shades of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her journey, she notes, has been peers supporting her, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, adding with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Rising Success
Anyone who questioned regarding Sennott then will surely be regretting it currently. As part of she describes as a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she has achieved her dream vehicle. A few years back she shared content named “it’s LA” on social media, in which she parodied film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a series about city dwellers managing advantages of digital stardom (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being accused of being a substance-abusing criminal, and potentially becoming a risky outcast). It would be easy to produce a program about digital influence that was horribly idealized—or, worse, one that mocked at its subjects. This show does neither, making for a portrait of privileged twentysomething life that’s candid about the mess and the shine.
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
