Rachel Sennott enters the video call and immediately begins an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, sounding genuinely regretful. Despite being only slightly late, she feels compelled to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Fortunately, for a writer, this is exactly what one hopes to experience. Moreover, it’s pretty expected. Anyone familiar with the unapologetically openly gay and outspoken project titled Bottoms—that she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and featured in alongside close companion Ayo Edebiri—will understand that Sennott holds a lot to say, whether about gender, sex, or the appeal of creating a high-school brawl society. Plus, after watching her latest seasonal HBO series I Love LA, viewers realize that the star has additional perspectives on the challenges of young adulthood (As a millennial, she is an honorary member to younger audiences, on the cusp with a knack for straddling both generations).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and the actress admits to being an admirer, citing the show together with the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as inspirations for her series, which tracks the travails of online personality Tallulah and close companion and aspiring agent Maia. However, the biggest spot on the moodboard went to the popular sitcom, the show about a rising celebrity navigating in an often-seedy LA scene (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it throughout the pandemic, became “hooked”, and chose to put her own twist 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 notes. The concept for I Love LA emerged—to some extent—from personal, at first difficult, relocation to Los Angeles and from her cosmic event, a frequently discussed phenomenon for followers. That period marked a time that involved her learn major insights, work-wise and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Brought up in the East Coast, Sennott commenced creating and acting stand-up while enrolled in performance at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at open mics with Ayo and posting uproarious (and distinctly) unconventional comedy videos on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on a group of women obsessively drawn to having babies; another portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being stuck in a horror film. By chance, she met Seligman through NYU’s movie community and eventually featuring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a Jewish wake with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her journey, she notes, has been people her own age supporting her, instead of the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she repeats, continuing amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who questioned about Sennott then will surely be feeling foolish today. Through she describes as a “incredibly circular” story, she has created her dream vehicle. In 2019 she shared a clip titled on LA life online, in which she mocked film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a comedy about Angelenos managing the perks of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a substance-abusing criminal, and potentially becoming a risky persona non grata). Some could easy to produce a program about online fame that was extremely aspirational—or, worse, one that punched down at its subjects. This show avoids both, resulting in a depiction of advantaged twentysomething life that’s candid about the chaos and the glamour.
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
