Rachel Sennott appears on the online meeting and right away begins an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, seeming really regretful. She is only a bit behind, she wants to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, for a writer, that’s precisely what is ideal to experience. Moreover, it’s pretty expected. Viewers who have seen the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and brash film Bottoms—that Sennott penned with the director and featured in alongside close companion the talented actress—can understand that Sennott possesses plenty to discuss, ranging from on gender, intimacy, or the appeal of creating a high-school brawl society. Furthermore, once you finish the recent eight-part HBO series I Love LA, it is clear that she holds further perspectives about the struggles of modern youth (At 30, Sennott serves as a bridge of the gang, on the cusp with a knack for bridging both generations).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being a fan, naming it alongside Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as influences for the project, which details the travails of an influencer Tallulah and her friend and fledgling representative portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the most significant spot on creative vision was reserved for the popular sitcom, that show depicting a rising Hollywood star succeeding in an often-seedy LA scene (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She discovered it during COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and resolved to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she says. The idea for I Love LA came—in part—from personal, initially difficult, move to LA and from her astrological phase, a frequently discussed event for enthusiasts. That period marked a phase that included her grasp significant truths, professionally and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” 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…”
Humble Origins
Raised in the East Coast, Sennott started developing and showcasing stand-up while studying theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She decided to act independently, performing at open mics with Ayo and sharing hysterical (and very) bizarre online content online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted several females intensely obsessed with motherhood; another imagined working at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being trapped in a horror film. Interestingly, she connected with Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ultimately appearing in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a funeral gathering with echoes of the intense thriller. The central motif of her journey, she notes, has been people her own age offering opportunities, as opposed to traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, continuing with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who questioned about Sennott previously will certainly be regretting it today. As part of she describes as a “wild, full-circle” development, she appears to achieved the perfect project. In 2019 she uploaded content called about Los Angeles on social media, in which she mocked movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a show about Angelenos managing advantages of digital stardom (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being labeled as being a intoxicated stealer, and perhaps becoming a unreliable pariah). Some could simple to make a series about digital influence that was horribly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at those depicted. I Love LA steers clear of each, creating a portrait of privileged twentysomething existence that’s candid about the chaos and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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
