Rachel Sennott discussing her hilarious show depicting the chaotic appeal of today's youth life
The performer appears on the online meeting and immediately starts an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, sounding really remorseful. Although she's only slightly late, she wants to justify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, for a writer, that’s exactly what you want to hear. Moreover, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone who know the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and outspoken project Bottoms—which she co-wrote with Emma Seligman and featured in with collaborator the talented actress—will already know that Sennott holds plenty to say, be it on identity, sex, or the appeal of forming a high-school fight club. And, by the end the recent seasonal program I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has additional thoughts regarding the challenges of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott is a bridge to younger audiences, on the cusp adept for connecting different age groups).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges an admirer, naming it together with the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as guides for I Love LA, which details the journey of an influencer Tallulah and her friend who is also fledgling agent portrayed by Sennott. However, the biggest presence on concept belonged to the HBO series, that show depicting an emerging Hollywood star succeeding in a corrupt entertainment industry (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott started watching it during the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and chose to create a new version on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The idea for this project came—partly—from her own, at first fractious, move to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about event for enthusiasts. That period marked a time that involved her grasp major life lessons, work-wise and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “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 …”
Starting Out
Brought up in New England, Sennott began creating and acting stand-up while pursuing 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. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at amateur nights with Ayo and posting uproarious (and distinctly) weird online content online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed characters obsessively fixated on pregnancy; another portrayed being employed at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being trapped in a horror film. By chance, she connected with Seligman through the university’s film scene and eventually appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a funeral gathering with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her journey, she explains, has been peers giving her a shot, instead of established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, continuing with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who had doubts about Sennott earlier will likely be feeling foolish currently. In what she labels a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she has manifested an ideal role. In 2019 she posted a clip named about Los Angeles on social media, in which she parodied movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a show about Angelenos managing benefits of internet fame (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your friend being accused of being a substance-abusing thief, and possibly becoming a unreliable persona non grata). It would be simple to create a program about online fame that was overly idealized—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at its subjects. I Love LA avoids both, creating a depiction of affluent twentysomething life that’s honest about the chaos and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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