Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and right away starts an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, sounding genuinely regretful. She is only a couple of minutes behind, she wants to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Fortunately, for a writer, that’s just what you want to experience. Besides, it’s fairly unsurprising. Viewers who know her boldly queer and brash project titled Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and appeared in together with her friend the talented actress—can understand that Sennott holds plenty to say, be it on roles, sex, or the merits of forming a youth combat group. Plus, after watching the new multi-episode show I Love LA, it is clear that she holds further insights on the struggles of young adulthood (At 30, she serves as a relatable figure to younger audiences, on the cusp skilled for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Artistic Direction
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and the actress admits to being a fan, naming the show in addition to the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as influences for her series, which follows the struggles of a social media star Tallulah and close companion and aspiring agent Maia. However, the largest influence on the moodboard was reserved for the HBO series, the show focusing on an emerging A-list actor making his way in a corrupt Hollywood (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She began viewing it amid lockdown, became “obsessed”, and decided to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she notes. The concept for this project came—in part—from personal, at first fractious, relocation to LA and from the saturn return, a frequently discussed occurrence for astrology heads. It was a time that involved her learn significant life lessons, work-wise and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Brought up in New England, Sennott began writing and performing stand-up while studying acting at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “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 live shows with Ayo and posting hilarious (and very) bizarre comedy videos online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted characters obsessively obsessed with having babies; a different one portrayed working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being caught in a thriller. By chance, she met Seligman through campus film circles and eventually appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a Jewish wake with echoes of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her journey, she notes, has been peers giving her a shot, as opposed to traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, adding humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Those who had doubts about Sennott then will certainly be feeling foolish today. In what she labels a “incredibly circular” story, she appears to achieved the perfect project. Previously she posted a clip titled about Los Angeles on social media, in which she parodied film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about Angelenos managing benefits of internet fame (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your associate being accused of being a drug-addled stealer, and perhaps becoming a risky outcast). It would be simple to make a program about digital influence that was horribly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA avoids both, making for a representation of affluent young adult living that’s honest about the grot and the shine.
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 observes. “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
