🔗 Share this article

Rachel Sennott appears on the digital interview and immediately begins an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, sounding really regretful. Despite being only a bit late, she wants to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, for a writer, this is precisely what is ideal to experience. Moreover, it’s pretty unsurprising. Anyone familiar with the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass movie Bottoms—which she co-wrote with her creative partner and featured in together with close companion The Bear’s standout—can already know that Sennott holds plenty to share, be it on gender, sex, or the merits of creating a high-school combat group. Plus, once you finish the latest eight-part program I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star carries additional insights regarding the darker side of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott is a relatable figure to younger audiences, on the cusp with a knack for connecting both generations).

Guiding Lights and Creative Vision

The comparisons to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott admits to being enthusiastic, referencing the show in addition to the HBO hit, Insecure and Atlanta as guides for the project, which details the travails of a social media star Tallulah and her friend and new representative portrayed by Sennott. However, the most significant spot on creative vision belonged to Entourage, the show about a rising celebrity succeeding in a gritty Hollywood (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott started watching it amid COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and chose to put her own twist on it “for the girls and the gays”.

“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The inspiration for I Love LA originated—to some extent—from her own, originally fractious, transition to Los Angeles and from the cosmic event, a much-talked-about event for astrology heads. It was a phase that involved her understand some big life lessons, work-wise 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. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Early Beginnings

Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing stand-up while pursuing theatre at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she states. “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. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”

Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at amateur nights with Edebiri and sharing hilarious (and very) bizarre comedy videos digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted a group of women intensely fixated on having babies; a different one imagined working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being caught in a scary movie. By chance, she encountered Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up starring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a religious event with shades of the intense thriller. The big theme of her career, she says, has been peers supporting her, as opposed to the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, continuing with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”

Rising Success

Anyone who were skeptical about Sennott earlier will surely be feeling foolish currently. As part of she labels a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she seems to have manifested an ideal role. Previously she uploaded a video named “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she parodied film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a series about city dwellers balancing benefits of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your client being labeled as being a substance-abusing criminal, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). One might tempting to make a program about digital influence that was horribly idealized—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at its subjects. This show steers clear of each, resulting in a depiction of privileged young adult living that’s frank about the chaos and the glamour.

Empathetic Approach

“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