Rachel Sennott appears on the online meeting and right away starts an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, appearing truly apologetic. She is only a bit late, she needs to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, for a writer, that’s precisely what you want to hear. Moreover, it’s quite predictable. Those who know her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—that Sennott penned with her creative partner and starred in together with close companion Ayo Edebiri—would already know that Sennott holds plenty to share, ranging from on gender, relationships, or the pros of starting a high-school combat group. And, after watching the latest seasonal show I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she holds additional insights on the struggles of Gen Z life (At 30, she represents an honorary member to younger audiences, on the cusp skilled for bridging different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and the actress is a fan, naming the show together with the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as guides for I Love LA, which tracks the journey of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and fledgling agent portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the biggest presence on creative vision belonged to Entourage, that HBO sitcom focusing on a rising Hollywood star navigating in an often-seedy entertainment industry (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it during lockdown, became “captivated”, and decided to create a new version 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 notes. The concept for I Love LA came—to some extent—from her own, initially difficult, transition to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a popular occurrence for enthusiasts. It was an era that involved her grasp some big insights, in her career and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Humble Origins
Growing up in Connecticut, Sennott started creating and acting humor while pursuing acting 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 states. “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.”
She took matters into her own hands, appearing at live shows with Edebiri and posting hysterical (and very) unconventional skits digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on characters fetishistically obsessed with pregnancy; a different one imagined being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being caught in a thriller. Interestingly, she met Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up starring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a Jewish wake with hints of the intense thriller. The central motif of her path, she says, has been peers supporting her, instead of established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, continuing with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Rising Success
Those who were skeptical regarding Sennott previously will likely be kicking themselves currently. As part of she labels a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she has manifested an ideal role. In 2019 she shared a clip titled “it’s LA” on social media, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a series about city dwellers managing benefits of online celebrity (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being suspected of being a intoxicated thief, and possibly becoming a risky persona non grata). It would be simple to produce a program about online fame that was overly idealized—or, worse, one that punched down at those depicted. This show avoids both, resulting in a representation of privileged millennial existence that’s frank about the mess and the glamour.
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
