Rachel Sennott enters the video call and at once launches into an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, seeming genuinely apologetic. Although she's only slightly behind, she feels compelled to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, for a writer, this is precisely what is ideal to hear. Additionally, it’s pretty unsurprising. Viewers who know the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and brash project titled Bottoms—which she collaborated on with her creative partner and starred in together with collaborator the talented actress—can already know that she possesses plenty to discuss, be it about roles, intimacy, or the appeal of forming a high-school combat group. Plus, by the end her new multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, viewers realize that the star carries even more perspectives about the struggles of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott represents a relatable figure for this generation, on the cusp with a knack for straddling both generations).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and the actress readily acknowledges a fan, naming the show together with the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as influences for I Love LA, which tracks the travails of online personality Tallulah and ally and aspiring agent Sennott’s character. However, the most significant presence on creative vision went to Entourage, that show depicting an up-and-coming A-list actor navigating in a corrupt LA scene (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it during lockdown, became “hooked”, and decided to create a new version 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 inspiration for the series originated—partly—from firsthand, originally fractious, relocation to LA and from the saturn return, a frequently discussed occurrence for enthusiasts. That period marked a time that included her learn some big truths, in her career and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Brought up in the East Coast, the star started writing and performing comedy while enrolled in performance at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” 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, appearing at live shows with her friend and uploading uproarious (and distinctly) weird skits on the internet. One, Baby Cult, depicted several females intensely drawn to motherhood; a different one portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being trapped in a thriller. By chance, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and eventually featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her path, she says, has been people her own age offering opportunities, rather than the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, continuing humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who had doubts about Sennott then will surely be regretting it today. As part of she calls a “astonishingly complete” story, she has achieved an ideal role. Previously she shared a clip titled about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a series about city dwellers juggling benefits of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being suspected of being a substance-abusing stealer, and perhaps becoming a risky outcast). One might tempting to make a series about digital influence that was overly idealized—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at the characters. I Love LA steers clear of each, creating a portrait of privileged twentysomething life that’s frank about the mess and the appeal.
Empathetic Approach
“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
