Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and at once begins an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, sounding truly regretful. She is only a bit late, she wants to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, during an interview, that’s precisely what you want to hear. Besides, it’s fairly expected. Anyone familiar with her unapologetically openly gay and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with her creative partner and appeared in alongside her friend Ayo Edebiri—will understand that she has much to share, ranging from on identity, intimacy, or the pros of forming a high-school fight club. Plus, by the end her latest seasonal HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has additional thoughts about the struggles of modern youth (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as a bridge to younger audiences, straddling eras skilled for bridging different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and the actress is enthusiastic, naming it together with the classic series, Insecure and Atlanta as inspirations for the project, which tracks the struggles of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and aspiring talent manager portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the largest presence on creative vision was reserved for Entourage, that program about an up-and-coming A-list actor making his way in a corrupt Hollywood (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it amid lockdown, became “hooked”, and resolved to create a new version on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she notes. The idea for I Love LA emerged—partly—from personal, initially fractious, move to Tinseltown and from her astrological phase, a popular event for astrology heads. This represented a phase that saw her grasp significant life lessons, work-wise and personally. “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. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Starting Out
Growing up in the East Coast, the star commenced creating and acting comedy while pursuing theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “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. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott seized control, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and posting uproarious (and distinctly) unconventional comedy videos online. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted characters intensely drawn to pregnancy; a different one imagined being employed at the brand Hollister as similar to being caught in a horror film. By chance, she encountered Emma through NYU’s movie community and eventually appearing in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a religious event with hints of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her path, she explains, has been peers offering opportunities, instead of established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, stating humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who had doubts regarding Sennott previously will certainly be regretting it today. As part of she labels a “astonishingly complete” story, she has achieved an ideal role. A few years back she uploaded a clip titled about Los Angeles online, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a series about LA residents balancing advantages of digital stardom (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being labeled as being a substance-abusing thief, and perhaps becoming a unreliable persona non grata). Some could simple to create a program about internet celebrity that was horribly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at the characters. I Love LA does neither, making for a depiction of privileged young adult existence that’s candid about the grot and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“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
