Rachel Sennott appears on the online meeting and immediately launches into an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, seeming genuinely regretful. Despite being only slightly behind, she feels compelled to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, in this context, that’s exactly what you want to experience. Moreover, it’s fairly predictable. Anyone who know her fearlessly LGBTQ+ and brash project Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with the director and appeared in alongside her friend The Bear’s standout—would understand that she has a lot to say, ranging from about roles, intimacy, or the pros of starting a high-school combat group. And, by the end the new eight-part program titled I Love LA, viewers realize that the star carries additional perspectives on the challenges of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott is an honorary member to younger audiences, on the cusp skilled for straddling both generations).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
Parallels to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott is an admirer, referencing it alongside the classic series, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as influences for the project, which details the struggles of online personality Tallulah and her friend who is also new representative portrayed by Sennott. However, the largest presence on creative vision was reserved for the popular sitcom, the show depicting an emerging celebrity making his way in an often-seedy LA scene (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott discovered it during COVID-19, became “captivated”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The concept for this project came—partly—from her own, at first difficult, transition to Los Angeles and from her cosmic event, a much-talked-about occurrence for followers. This represented a time that included her grasp some big truths, professionally and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Brought up in Connecticut, Sennott commenced writing and performing stand-up while studying theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She seized control, performing at live shows with Ayo and posting hysterical (and very) weird comedy videos digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women obsessively obsessed with having babies; a different one imagined being employed at a trendy retail outlet as like being stuck in a scary movie. Interestingly, she connected with Seligman through NYU’s movie community and eventually starring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a religious event with shades of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her path, she notes, has been peers offering opportunities, as opposed to traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, continuing amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Those who had doubts regarding her then will surely be feeling foolish today. Through she describes as a “incredibly circular” story, she has achieved her dream vehicle. In 2019 she shared a video called “it’s LA” on social media, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a series about Angelenos balancing benefits of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being labeled as being a drug-addled stealer, and perhaps becoming a risky outcast). One might tempting to create a program about internet celebrity that was overly aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at the characters. This show avoids both, creating a representation of privileged young adult existence that’s honest about the grot and the appeal.
Balanced Perspective
“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
