Rachel Sennott enters the video call and right away starts an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, seeming truly regretful. Although she's only a bit late, she needs to justify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, for a writer, that’s precisely what you want to encounter. Additionally, it’s fairly predictable. Anyone who have seen the fearlessly queer and brash film Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and featured in alongside collaborator the talented actress—would already know that Sennott possesses plenty to say, ranging from on roles, intimacy, or the appeal of starting a youth brawl society. Furthermore, once you finish her recent seasonal show I Love LA, viewers realize that the star holds additional perspectives on the darker side of young adulthood (At 30, Sennott serves as an honorary member of the gang, straddling eras with a knack for connecting different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
Parallels to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is an admirer, referencing the show in addition to Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as influences for I Love LA, which follows the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and new talent manager Maia. Notably, the largest spot on creative vision was reserved for Entourage, the HBO sitcom focusing on an up-and-coming A-list actor making his way in a gritty entertainment industry (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott began viewing it during COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and decided to put her own twist 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 says. The idea for this project came—partly—from firsthand, initially difficult, move to LA and from her cosmic event, a popular phenomenon for followers. This represented a time that saw her learn 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.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Early Beginnings
Brought up in the East Coast, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing comedy while studying acting at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at amateur nights with Ayo and uploading hysterical (and decidedly) bizarre online content digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, centered on a group of women intensely obsessed with motherhood; another imagined working at the brand Hollister as akin to being stuck in a thriller. Interestingly, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up featuring in her first film, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a funeral gathering with hints of the intense thriller. The central motif of her journey, she says, has been people her own age supporting her, as opposed to established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, adding amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Rising Success
Those who had doubts regarding her then will surely be regretting it today. Through she labels a “astonishingly complete” development, she appears to manifested an ideal role. A few years back she uploaded content titled “it’s LA” on social media, in which she parodied movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a comedy about city dwellers juggling the perks of online celebrity (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being labeled as being a intoxicated stealer, and perhaps becoming a risky pariah). Some could tempting to produce a program about internet celebrity that was extremely idealized—or, worse, one that mocked at the characters. This show steers clear of each, making for a representation of privileged young adult living that’s candid about the mess and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
