Rachel Sennott appears on the digital interview and at once starts an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, appearing really regretful. Despite being only a bit behind, she feels compelled to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, during an interview, that’s just what one hopes to encounter. Besides, it’s fairly unsurprising. Viewers who know her fearlessly openly gay and outspoken film titled Bottoms—that Sennott penned with her creative partner and appeared in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—will understand that she has much to discuss, ranging from about roles, relationships, or the pros of starting a teen brawl society. And, once you finish the recent multi-episode show I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds further perspectives about the darker side of young adulthood (At 30, Sennott is an honorary member for this generation, on the cusp adept for straddling different age groups).
Influences and Creative Vision
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and the actress is an admirer, naming the show together with Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as inspirations for I Love LA, which follows the travails of an influencer Tallulah and her friend and aspiring agent portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the largest presence on creative vision belonged to the HBO series, that show about an up-and-coming celebrity navigating in a gritty entertainment industry (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott started watching it amid lockdown, became “obsessed”, and chose to create a new version on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she notes. The concept for I Love LA originated—to some extent—from her own, originally fractious, transition to Los Angeles and from the astrological phase, a popular occurrence for astrology heads. That period marked a phase that saw her learn some big life lessons, professionally and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Humble Origins
Brought up in the East Coast, the star began developing and showcasing comedy while enrolled in acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she states. “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. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at amateur nights with her friend and posting uproarious (and decidedly) bizarre comedy videos digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women intensely fixated on motherhood; a different one imagined being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being trapped in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Seligman through campus film circles and ended up appearing in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a funeral gathering with hints of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her career, she says, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, rather than traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, continuing amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who had doubts regarding her then will certainly be regretting it now. Through she describes as a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she has manifested the perfect project. In 2019 she posted content named “it’s LA” online, in which she mocked movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a show about city dwellers managing the perks of online celebrity (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being suspected of being a drug-addled stealer, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). It would be simple to make a show about internet celebrity that was horribly idealized—or, more problematic, one that punched down at its subjects. The series steers clear of each, making for a portrait of privileged twentysomething living that’s candid 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
